Re: Pray
by CrossFaded
Summary: A young Shokuhou Misaki finds herself willing to do anything just to keep her shameful past a secret from Kamijou Touma as she prays for the strength to forgive herself who can only live for her own sake.
1. End

**Author's Note: **If you've watched episode one of Goblin Slayer, this chapter is probably just a tiny bit less controversial as that. If you choose not to read on, I understand. I personally find that most M rated stories here aren't that dark, like they'll be fine being T rated. This story however, it is rated M for a very good reason.

**Edit (29/6/2019): Story rewritten in many parts.**

* * *

Misaki wanted to be like Kanami on TV. Not Magical Girl Kanami saving people like a hero, but ordinary Kanami with loving parents who did not treat Kanami like a slave.

"The dishes aren't going to wash themselves, you stupid girl!" said a plump middle-aged lady.

This fat bitch was her "stepmother" who must have sold her hideous soul to the devil in exchange for an equally hideous monster willing to marry her.

Misaki lowered her head as she entered the kitchen. She wasn't going to let anger destroy her image of a meek little girl in front of her "step-parents". Only a meek little girl would be allowed to leave house and buy groceries without any fears of her running away.

By the time Misaki was done with the dishes, her bitch "stepmother" had already left the house for karaoke with her bitch friends. It was no surprise that the meeker she appeared in front of them, the more joy they got from forcing her to do humiliating acts such as licking the floor on all fours in exchange for a small scoop of her favorite vanilla ice cream. That kind of humiliation however, was better than the other kind of humiliation she had to go through each time she wanted to leave house.

"Uncle Hiroshi, may I please leave the house to get some groceries for Aunt Hiroshi?" said Misaki as she averted her eyes away from that monster's creepy smile. He usually interprets it as fear, but it was really sheer disgust to the point where if she looked just one second longer, she might actually stab her fingers into his eyes and then finish him with the sharpest blade in the kitchen.

The monster closed the curtains and made sure the door was locked, "If you're a good girl, sure."

Misaki took off her clothes slowly, piece by piece before she knelt down on all fours.

* * *

A large tub of vanilla ice cream was what Misaki needed to forget the bitter aftertaste in her mouth as a portable printer connected to a PC spat out images after images inside a private internet cafe room.

The Internet was a vast world filled with knowledge, but she had too little time to explore, so the only way was to buy time and money with her body. Misaki hated what that monster would always do to her body every single time, but it was also that monster that taught her the value of her body. It was apparently valuable enough to get money for spy cameras connected to a cloud server and a portable printer.

Misaki left the internet cafe room for a small police station armed with a brown A4 envelope just across the street. It may be difficult to convict someone of sexual abuse in Japan, but she had evidence so clear that any lawyer who takes her case would win without a doubt.

Kagurazaka, the area she lived in was rather peaceful, so there wasn't anyone else around inside the station other than the two bored police officers on duty.

"Please… please save me from this nightmare," said Misaki, her voice trembling as if she would burst into tears any moment. Males tend to be more sympathetic to cute girls who are almost in tears. It triggers their natural instincts to protect the weak such as herself.

A police officer opened the A4 envelope, and to Misaki's surprise, the officer seemed to be rather nonchalant as he looked through the pictures.

"Are you sure you didn't use any photo editing tools to frame an innocent man?" said the officer.

Misaki shook her head, "Please believe me. Whatever you see in the picture is true! I even have-"

"Alright, that's enough." said another police officer as he chucked the A4 envelope and the pictures into a paper shredder, "Mr Hiroshi is a respectable businessman who took you in out of kindness and I won't allow an ungrateful brat like you to ruin his life."

Misaki stomped out of the police station. Fine. Maybe the police station in Shibuya will take her case more seriously!

From the corner of her vision, she noticed a man following her. Was that monster secretly in cahoots with the local police and had that man on standby to follow her if evidence of him sexually abusing her appears?

Misaki sprinted into an alley. She took off her necklace and hurled it into a dustbin. This necklace was a special USB stick in disguise manufactured by Academy City, a city with technology 30 years ahead of the world. Even if her cloud server was hacked into by Academy City's technology, she still had this necklace as her final backup which she must retrieve by Thursday morning before the garbage collectors arrive.

Waiting at the exit of the alley was that man with a gun pointed at her.

"What do you want from me?" said Misaki as she inched backwards. There was no way she could ever outrun a bullet, but maybe if she inched backwards enough, she could leap sideways and disappear from that man's view.

The man pulled the trigger, and Misaki fell to the ground paralysed. There was nothing she could do to fight back or scream as the man stripped her and stuffed her clothes into his bag. He was someone hired by that monster Hiroshi to follow her as soon as she left the house. Whatever she had been planning was never a secret. No wonder the police were so nonchalant when she showed them the evidence. They were all in this together!

"I'm not here for your necklace," said the man with a smirk, "I'm here for you. You've had your fun with so many men that one more wouldn't matter, right? I promise to leave you alone for good once I'm finished."

Tears leaked from the corners of Misaki's eyes.

Just a shitty deal where she gets nothing in return. Nothing to cry about. Nothing to cry about at all...

Yet the tears won't stop flowing.

* * *

Kamijou Touma walked through an alley to avoid the crowd in the bustling street of Shibuya, known to be the most energetic district in Tokyo. Not everyone he touches is doomed to be cursed with misfortune, but he'd rather not take that risk. There was nothing to be afraid of when only the most desperate of people would be willing to rob or assault him.

Touma felt something sharp pressing against his back.

"You must be new here," said Touma. "Or you simply have nothing else to lose."

"Shut up and hand over all your money!" said a male voice.

Touma turned around to see a disheveled man with tattered clothes. The man must be so poor that the knife he was holding with grimy fingers was yellowish and rusty. Touma ignored the man's desperate screams for him to stop moving as he casually reached into his pocket.

"Good luck," said Touma as he dropped a few thousand yen on the floor. A weak attempt to make himself feel better for destroying the lives of many innocent people just by touching them, but an attempt nonetheless.

Bluish electric currents shocked the man unconscious. Touma read about Academy City, and how that incredible city actually managed to produce espers, or people with supernatural abilities, but to see one in person was still quite the experience.

"You alright?" said a girl who was an esper that could shoot lightning out of her fingertips.

"I should be asking you that question."

"What? Do I look not alright to you?"

"You just shocked a grown man unconscious! How is that alright to you?!"

The girl laughed, "Oh, he'll be fine after a hour or two. Trust me, I've done this over a hundred times."

She was definitely not alright. Mentally, at least.

"You are?" said Touma.

"Misaka Mikoto. And you?" said Mikoto with an outstretched hand.

"The last time I shook someone's hand, he was admitted to the hospital for six months when a tree fell onto him. My name is Kamijou Touma by the way, the boy who brings misfortune to whoever he touches."

Mikoto grabbed hold of his hands just like one of the many who didn't believe in things like "luck", but that doesn't make her immune to the fact that something horrible was probably going to happen to her soon. Maybe less horrible than the others since she wasn't normal, but the opposite could also be true.

"You need to change your backward superstitious thinking," said Mikoto, "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Have you ever wondered if there's someone behind all the unfortunate things that happens to whoever you touch?"

Touma blinked. The idea of someone screwing over whoever he touches on purpose had never really occurred to him. If that someone really exists, then why would he or she do that? Drive him out of Japan to where?

Sparks flew erratically out of Mikoto's bangs.

"What did you do to me?!" said Mikoto.

Touma shielded himself from a stray lightning bolt with his right hand. The lightning bolt vanished without a trace. He couldn't exactly remember why his right hand could negate supernatural powers, but it had something to do with one of his previous lives who dealt with dragons.

Mikoto's electric outburst calmed down when a necklace fell out of her pocket.

"I told you so. Bad things happen to people who touches me," said Touma.

"Huh, I had no idea that this necklace was technology from Academy City."

"What do you mean by- oh god."

The necklace, despite its small size, was sophisticated enough to project a video onto the wall. He even recognized the girl in that video. She once appeared briefly in a news article for having star-shaped irises. Meanwhile, the man in the video was a rich businessman who organized an event once or twice in Kagurazaka together with his father Kamijou Touya.

Mikoto switched off the necklace with a confused frown, "That was a really weird video. Do you know what's going on in that video?"

Touma shook his head because it was easier than explaining. He envied Mikoto for not knowing that the video she just watched was clear evidence of a man sexually abusing a young girl. It may not seem that way because the girl wasn't in tears, but not everyone expresses their pain through tears.

"I shouldn't have expected much from an idiot like you."

A man stepped out from the shadows. He was dressed like how one would expect from an agent in a generic spy movie with a black suit and sunglasses. Anyone wearing sunglasses at night was either someone from Academy City or a psychiatric hospital.

"Please hand over the necklace to me," said the agent. "I'm from an organization in Academy City tasked to retrieve technology smuggled out from Academy City."

"What organization?" said Mikoto. "Judgement? Anti-Skill? I'd prefer to hand it over to Anti-Skill myself once I return to Academy City."

The agent took out a tablet displaying Mikoto's profile as a Level 2 Electromaster, "Please don't make things difficult for me."

Mikoto reluctantly handed the necklace over to the agent, "Fine."

"What's wrong?" said Touma as the agent disappeared into the shadows again. The agent did seem rather suspicious just from his looks alone, but Touma wasn't confident of going against a trained agent with a gun probably hidden somewhere in his suit.

"You wouldn't understand since you aren't from Academy City. Anyway, I just have a bad feeling about this," said Mikoto before waving goodbye.

It did not matter to Touma where the necklace went because handing it to the police would do absolutely nothing. That man in the video, which Touma remembered now as Hiroshi Goro, had a certain influence in the police force due to his connections. That fucker also almost succeeded in framing him for murder because of the influence he had.

Touma had his ways of ensuring that the girl would get the justice she deserves. Actually, there was just one way. A fist across that disgusting fucker's face!

The agent reappeared from the shadows, "Perhaps I could be of assistance if you want to find that girl."

"What exactly are you?" said Touma.

The agent lit up a cigar with an amused smile, "If I told you I was actually a golden retriever controlling this artificial body from a distance, would you believe me?"

"I suppose a talking golden retriever would attract too much attention to whatever you are doing."

If it's Academy City, even a fish who could fly and talk wouldn't be that surprising. In fact, a talking golden retriever was just boring compared to what Academy City can do. It has technology 30 years ahead of the world after all.

"Right now, you're the only one who can save that girl, but you have to find her first before it's too late."

* * *

Misaki sat alone in an abandoned church wearing clothes that a dog offered her out of nowhere by chance. If there was really a God, has He abandoned her just like how the people of Shibuya had abandoned that statue of Jesus Christ now covered with grime and dust? For a while, she was happy with life in Milan with her mother until the Mafia kidnapped her and killed her mother for trying to save her. This must be the moment that God for whatever reasons decided that she wasn't worth the effort anymore and abandoned her.

Sure, Olly the Octopus and his friend Silvia saved her from the Mafia using magic like Magical Girl Kanami, and of course it wasn't fair for them to be her new adoptive parents so they sent her to Japan to live with someone they thought would at least treat her like a human being, but God had already abandoned her at this point, so of course nothing good came out of this arrangement.

Misaki hugged her knees in tears. The moment the police finds her it's all over. The monster Hiroshi would never let her out of his house ever again. Her limbs would be chopped off to stop her from escaping!

"I don't deserve this… I'm a good girl who did nothing wrong..."

If there was something wrong she did to piss off God, then it would be her refusing to go to church every Sunday with her mother because she wanted to watch Winx Club instead. Would a miracle from God happen if she said sorry and promise to go to church every Sunday from now on?

"You alright?" said a boy with black spiky hair around her age.

Misaki jumped out of the bench in shock. The boy appeared right beside her without a sound. She frantically wiped her tears away, but maybe she should have kept crying to earn some valuable sympathy points from him.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Are you lost? Do you need me to call the police?"

"No! Don't call the police, please!"

"Are you a runaway child criminal or something? A shame that there's no priest here for you to confess your sins."

Was this boy… mocking her?! It would seem really awkward if her reply to his snarkiness was a sob story about being sexually abused by a monster.

"Your hairstyle is the most pathetic imitation of Takahashi Hideo I've ever seen. Are you here to seek forgiveness from God for offending everyone with your hideous spiky hair?"

The boy chuckled, "Come on, it's not that bad. Besides, if God exists, then he must be a pretty shitty asshole for allowing so many bad things to happen."

Misaki hurled a shoe at the grimy and dusty statue of Jesus Christ. If she was strong enough, she would have also hurled the bench. "You have no idea how much God screwed me over just because I didn't attend church every Sunday. If you can hear me God, not even you are above karma! You'll also burn in Hell with those damned souls you call sinners!"

The boy climbed onto the altar and pushed the statue down. Jesus Christ broke into half with a resounding bang. "Feeling better?"

Misaki didn't know what came over her when she hugged that boy. He may be someone who was around her age, but he was still a male. She couldn't let her guard down yet. He might be playing the long game to get into her pants.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright," said the boy.

No, everything won't be alright when the police arrives. They had every right to return her back to that monster Hiroshi. There was nothing the boy could do unless he had some kind of magic that could force the police to bow to his will like what Olly the Octopus did to the Mafia.

"My name is Kamijou Touma by the way. What's yours?"

"Misaki. Shokuhou Misaki. Wait… are you that Kamijou Touma? The legendary god of pestilence?!"

Touma forced a smile, "Yeah, that's me. Not a fan of that title though."

"You have no idea how you've just saved my life!"

The police sirens and the red flashy light through the broken windows was no longer her end. Misaki walked out of the church with her hands locked together with Touma. That wiped the monster's phony concerned smile off his face.

No police came after her or Touma as they left through a side-path. In their eyes, she was now also cursed with the same type of misfortune as Touma just by coming into contact with him or that whatever misfortune that was going to happen to her soon would affect them as well. Even that monster Hiroshi must have thought the same and decided not to take the risk. No police nor that monster would want her around Kagurazaka anymore. She was finally free thanks to Touma.

Misaki never expected a boy cursed with spreading misfortune to others wherever he goes to be someone so carefree in the sense that he refused to let his curse not take away his rights to be himself. He was someone she could at least respect even if he was still an asshole for calling her a runaway child criminal when she was actually a victim.

It would be nice if she could keep on holding his hands even as the light drizzle turned into heavy rain.

"It's raining," said Touma.

"I know."

"You must really like the rain."

Misaki nodded. To hold hands with a guy she likes under the rain was a romantic fantasy come true.

"No regrets?"

There was no way she would ever regret this.

* * *

It took Misaki three days before she recovered from flu and fever. She was an idiot for not realizing that people can get sick from being in the rain for too long, but Touma didn't have to rub that fact into her face by chucking yet another pack of instant oatmeal porridge into a shopping basket. Throbbing headaches were nothing compared to the agony of not being able to eat anything sweet.

"I've already eaten that for the past three days already! Are we going to be eating this for the rest of our lives?!" said Misaki.

"Of course not. Unless you really like oatmeal porridge..." said Touma as he placed a strawberry ice cream cone into the basket with a playful grin.

Touma may look around the same age as her, but he seemed much, much more mature than he looks. Perhaps he was also like her, a child forced to grow up in a cruel world to survive.

Not everyone Touma touches gets cursed with misfortune, but because he didn't want to risk it, he had to do grocery shopping at an 24 hours convenience store with a self checkout kiosk past midnight where everyone was asleep. If he was actually in pain from living such an isolated life, then he had done a great job in hiding it behind a mask through his carefree attitude.

Misaki devoured her strawberry ice cream cone as she sat at the park bench beside Touma. Her favorite flavor was vanilla, but strawberry was pretty good as well.

"Maybe magic might have a cure for your curse. I know a guy who used magic when he saved me from the Mafia during my time in Milan. His name is Olly the Octopus."

"A talking male octopus from Academy City who can somehow survive on land?"

"No, that's just a nickname I gave him. I don't remember his real name, but he knocked out a group of thugs just by looking at them. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen! So I named him Olly the Octopus because it's like he had invisible arms that knocked everyone unconscious."

"Any idea how we can find Olly the Octopus then?"

Misaki frowned. Olly the Octopus certainly didn't leave his contact number with her. In fact, he didn't even have a phone, and she was also an idiot for not asking how she could contact him if she ever needed him.

Touma leaned back with a smile, "It's okay."

Misaki wondered what was Touma hiding behind his smile as he stared at the starless night sky. She had only known him for three days, so it probably wasn't nice of her to ask about his personal issues, but there was at least one thing she could do for him.

Misaki kissed Touma on his cheeks. People might call her naive or stupid, but she still wanted to believe that Touma isn't like the others who would treat her nicely just to have sex with her. If she hadn't fallen into despair yet, then there's no reason for him to.

"That's… that's uh, sexual harassment. I can sue you for that," said Touma, his cheeks tinged red with embarrassment.

"Not if you're cute."

Touma reached behind her ears and pulled out a small cherry blossom flower, "Flowers for the cute girl?"

This magical moment between her and Touma was overwhelmingly beautiful yet tragically short just like that cherry blossom flower. If their time together was destined to be like a cherry blossom flower, then when it all ends, could she achieve an ending with Touma without an end?

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hello, it's been a long while since I posted a new story here. Over the years, I've written quite a fair bit of stories here, and most of them I realize now are really just shitty drafts to a story I had in mind that took me years to be decent enough to do finally justice to it. I really wanted to continue 'A Mirage To Keep You Safe' but my writing style has changed so much that it's impossible for me to do so now.

In a way, I am rewriting 'A Mirage To Keep You Safe', but I simply chose to start the story from the very beginning instead of starting it halfway and then bore everyone with long flashbacks.

Anyway, with regards to this chapter, yes, there is a reason why I portrayed Misaki as a victim of sexual abuse. It's the driving force behind Misaki's actions later on in the story. Misaki doesn't care if you find her dirty. She only cares about whether Touma finds her dirty or not.

Lastly, hope you liked the chapter and leave a comment if you have any.

P.S: Maybe it's just me, but the trend nowadays seem to be towards Touma x Misaki or Touma x Harem rather than the usual Touma x Mikoto. By the way, the inspiration song for this chapter is Reol - End, which you may check it out if you like.


	2. Sinner

Hiroshi Goro waved the prostitute out of his hotel room before pouring himself a glass of red wine. Compared to Misaki, that prostitute was an amateur who had the audacity to charge 50,000 yen per hour. Such a pity that the pest Kamijou Touma got to her first and infected her with something worse than a STD.

Satoshi, the man he sent to retrieve Misaki's clothes attached with nano spy cameras and the necklace, wasn't answering his calls. Did that shit stain just sold him out to the Katze Industries? The current CEO isn't above using blackmailing to get cheaper manufacturing materials from him.

Goro felt a hand on his shoulder. How did this person wearing a motorcycle helmet appear beside him without a sound?

"Who are you?" said Goro.

"It doesn't matter."

Goro stumbled back as he wiped the blood off his face. He hurled a fist at the helmet guy who dodged it and gave a swift kick to his balls before smashing the wine bottle over his head.

Goro fell to his knees in agony.

"What wrong did Misaki do to deserve being sexually abused by a scumbag like you?" said the helmet guy.

"Playing the hero now? Sex with her must be mind blowing enough for you to go that-"

Another fist to his face from the righteous hero.

"Answer my question. What wrong did she do to deserve being sexually abused by a scumbag like you?"

"You think I was going to let her be a freeloader at my house? If she has no money to pay for rent and food then her body will have to do. That's how cruel the real world is, Kamijou Touma. Don't let the kindness of that judge fool you into thinking otherwise."

The judge was a fucking dumb bitch who insisted on upholding the law despite knowing that Kamijou Touma was a walking plague who would infect everyone with misfortune. Nobody would blame her if she ruled that Touma was guilty and should be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Touma took off his helmet, "This world isn't as cruel as you think, but what you're going to face soon will be something far more cruel."

Goro let out a resigned sigh. Anyone touched by Kamijou Touma would be cursed with misfortune, including him. The slut Misaki succeeded in destroying everything he had.

* * *

Misaki dusted off a laptop she found inside a cabinet near the TV. Touma was out doing his midnight shopping at the convenience store despite making a large purchase at one go yesterday midnight enough for a week because there were some stuff he 'forgot' to buy. What a horrible liar.

The screen lit up. As much as she wanted to know the truth behind his 'midnight shopping', she had only known him for four days. It wasn't nice to be too nosy, especially when she was dependent on him for housing and food.

Misaki successfully logged into her secure cloud server.

All of her saved videos containing evidence of that monster sexually abusing her was deleted. It doesn't really matter anymore. She was already free from that monster thanks to Touma. Maybe it was better this way. No need to let Touma know that dirty part of her past.

Misaki shut the laptop down when she heard the creaking sound of the front door being opened.

Touma plopped himself onto the sofa. What kind of 'midnight shopping' could possibly exhaust him to the point where he was about to fall asleep at any moment?

"You didn't even buy anything," said Misaki.

"Something happened along the way."

"What happened?"

"An opportunity to punch that fucker in the face."

Apparently, the monster Hiroshi also attempted to frame Touma for murder because he wanted Touma to disappear from this world. Touma decided that enough was enough after hearing her partially true story of that monster physically abusing her whenever she wasn't fast enough to tend to he and his wife's needs.

Touma chuckled, "I think I deserve a reward for that."

Who was she kidding? All men were the same. They just only want one thing when they decide to be the hero. She was dumb and stupid to think that Touma would be different.

Misaki knelt down in front of Touma with a smile, "Sure."

Before she could reach for his pants, he grabbed her arm and helped her back to her feet.

"Could you make me a bowl of oyakodon? I'm starving like hell over here."

* * *

Misaki could finally let herself cry freely as she chopped onions in the kitchen. There was no way Touma could possibly be that nice to her without demanding sex. It might also be possible that he has no idea what sex was given his age, but the way he looked at her wasn't confusion. He knew what she was about to do. Must have somehow secretly read too much of his father's porn magazines.

Cooking a meal for someone worth it was true happiness she hadn't felt for a long time.

* * *

Satoshi found himself chained to a bed, spreadeagled and naked. He remembered being chased by an Academy City agent before a flash bomb went off, and then he was knocked unconscious by someone.

"Anyone here?" said Satoshi.

Also, why was he stripped naked? If it was punishment for smuggling Academy City's technology to the outside world, he should have been shot dead by now.

A muscular African man appeared with a monster dildo. He had muscles so huge he looked like he could tear people into half with just his bare hands. Even the wooden floor shuddered in fear as he walked.

"Finally awake, ching chong?" said the African man. Or African-American judging from his accent.

"What the fuck is going on here? Why am I being tied up like this?"

"That's because you've been a really bad boy."

"I don't understand what-"

Satoshi howled in pain as the African-American man rammed the dildo up his ass without any lubricant.

"First, I'd like to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity to teach this motherfucking rapist a lesson on empathy. Amen," said the African-American man. "The Devil of Academy City sends her warmest regards."

Anguished screams filled the air as the African-American man proceeded to violently destroy Satoshi's anus with that monster dildo of his.

* * *

Misaki served tea to Touma's parents, who came to visit him after their holiday in Europe. There were many people who wanted to kill them just for being Touma's parents, but none of them ever succeeded. It was like God had been protecting them from any harm and from Touma's misfortune in secret. Because of that however, Touma decided it was best he lived alone to satisfy the desires of those indirectly affected by his misfortune to see him miserable and isolated from everyone.

Misaki flashed a grin at Touma's despairing look. His childhood must be filled with many embarrassing events she could laugh at.

"Mum, you know I love you right?" said Touma.

"You have nothing to worry about. Now go inside the room with your father while I have a nice chat with your girlfriend over a cup of tea," said Touma's mother.

Girlfriend as in a friend who happened to be a girl, unfortunately. With enough time, that can be changed to romantic partner who happened to be a girl. Touma's parents seemed to like her a lot, so that's half the battle won already. What was there not to like about? She carried out her duties as a housewife, even though she wasn't exactly one, flawlessly.

"Please just don't show her that video," said Touma.

Touma's mother laughed, "You have my word."

Kamijou Shiina, who was Touma's mother, took out her smartphone and started showing Misaki pictures after pictures of Touma when he was just a toddler. It was a time when Touma had no idea how much misfortune he would bring to people just by touching them, and so, the smiles he had as a toddler was the most genuine smile Misaki could ever see from him. How long has it been since Touma felt true happiness?

Shiina paused at a picture where toddler Touma was standing with his preschool classmates, "I've never considered myself as a religious person, but I've been praying everyday to God for Him to not let Touma live the rest of his life alone," and then smiled at Misaki, "I'm so glad that you're here with him."

"Touma may have destroyed many lives with his misfortune, but his misfortune saved my life. My psychopathic abusive parents are so paranoid about me spreading his misfortune to them that they finally left me alone in peace."

"Let's make a small deal," said Shiina.

"A deal?"

"Try to get Touma out of this house more often, and I'll tell you about the video that Touma doesn't want me to show anybody."

Misaki offered a handshake, "Deal."

* * *

It wasn't very hard to get Touma out of the house if it was a midnight stroll in Yoyogi Park because no one in their right mind would be there at such an ungodly hour. The goal, though almost impossible, was to eventually get Touma out of the house during the day.

"What's the difference between a snot and a broccoli?" said Misaki.

"Shut up."

"You only told your mum not to show the video, not that she couldn't describe the video in words."

The video was just Touma telling a really lame joke to his parents, and for some reason he seemed to be really embarrassed about that joke. Anyway, he should be embarrassed because that joke was just... bad. The answer to the joke was that there's no difference. Really? No difference?

"Think about it," said Touma, "If I put snot or broccoli into your bowl of ice cream, you'd feel equally disgusted, right?"

"I'd go bring you to see a psychiatrist because you clearly have issues. By the way, that's pity I feel for you, not disgust."

Touma got a drink from the vending machine and tossed it over to Misaki with a smile, "Very practical. I like you."

Misaki would have been fooled by his smile if she hadn't noticed Touma pressing the option for a vegetable juice and muttered how unlucky he was when a strawberry soda came out of the machine. Still, the cold soda was not cold enough to soothe the burning sensation on her cheeks. It wasn't fair how a casual compliment from Touma could make her feel that way so easily.

"Tell me more about your family and your childhood in Italy. It's not fair that you only know about mine," said Touma.

Her childhood in Italy before the Mafia appeared wasn't very interesting. Every day, she would just stay at home and watch TV while her mother was out at work. Sometimes, they would go to church together for Sunday evening services.

Her family though, was more interesting. Her mother was Japanese, and her father was British and not Italian. She was an 'accident' from her mother's one night stand, but God always has a plan as her mother always says, so she was instead a gift from God even though an accident would be more accurate.

"... I think my father was from the Birdway family, or at least that's what Olly told me. It's a rich family, so they probably didn't want another person to fight over their assets and refused to take me in. So Olly looked into Japan, and that's how I ended up with my step-parents."

Touma ran his hand through Misaki's hair. He may be looking at her, but Misaki could tell he was really looking at someone else.

"How could I have forgotten… you have the same hair as her," said Touma.

Misaki leaned closer to the point where their lips were almost touching, "Who is she? Your ex-girlfriend?"

"It's complicated."

"Yes or no?"

"I don't-"

Touma grabbed the blade of a knife. It happened so fast that Misaki didn't even see his hand move.

The terrified figure holding an improvised crossbow was that monster Hiroshi Goro, unkempt and dressed in tattered clothing. A far cry from his usual disgustingly impeccable self. He scampered off into the trees like a sewer rat.

"Are you alright?! Do y-you need me to call the ambulance?!" said Misaki. There was so much blood dripping from Touma's hand.

Touma dipped his right hand into a river, "Don't worry about it."

If he was bleeding, there must be a wound. But after washing off the blood, there was no wound at all.

"You can do magic?" said Misaki.

"What exactly do you even mean by magic? Using mana to cast spells or something?"

Olly did explain magic as the conversion of life force into mana which then can be used to cast spells, but Misaki felt that there was something much more to it than what Olly was willing to reveal.

"It's probably not magic then," said Touma. "I may not remember much, but I'm sure that the power in my right hand isn't magic."

"Then what is it?"

"You'd think I'm crazy, but the power in my right hand can do far more crazy things than what you've ever seen."

Misaki extended her pinky, "I promise I'd believe anything you say."

"Alright..."

Apparently, Touma had past lives because the power in his right hand would keep reviving him in different forms. Out of those past lives, only three of them was him being human, with this current life as his third one. Or was this all just a psychological trauma caused by his apparent misfortune?

Touma grabbed her hand, "Let's go. It's not safe here."

"So that girl who has the same hair as me, she's like your ex from 1700 years ago?" said Misaki as they quickly made their way out of the park.

"If she's the only person I remember, I guess she must be someone really important?"

Someday, Misaki swore, she would also become someone important to him-

Swoosh.

Misaki crumpled to the ground with a knife to the side of her neck. She desperately grapsed for air but none of it was going into her lungs. Was her short-lived happiness with Touma about to come to an end?

Touma stood shell-shocked and almost in tears, a rare display of vulnerability from him. He tried calling the ambulance, but as expected from his misfortune, the phone chose not to work at this critical moment. He hurled the phone down and crushed it with a foot.

"I... didn't expect for things to go so wrong," said Touma.

Misaki reached a hand towards Touma with whatever strength she had left to wipe the tears off his face and ended up smearing his face with blood. There was so much more she wanted to tell Touma, and yet 'Thank you' was all she could manage. Touma went to great lengths to isolate himself from society because of his ability to curse people with misfortune by touching them. It would take more than a story of physical abuse for him to intentionally curse someone. He must have found her necklace.

Olly's appearance from a yellow burst of light surprised Misaki. Even as he healed her wounds using magic, her mind was still slipping away. A pity that she couldn't remain awake to find out what was Olly talking about with Touma beyond him telling Touma that she would be fine once she wakes up.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

To Guest: I'd only not write this story if the reviews are mostly negative. Turns out that the reviews are... let's just say not negative. Also, yes, Touma's misfortune is different in the novels and anime, but it's not a super huge difference in my opinion though.

To fuck you guest: Thank you for your passionate defense with regards to this story. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

Also, the little thing in this chapter about the difference between a snot and a broccoli was taken from MrQuestionMark's ACUL0, so credits to him I guess.

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and leave a comment if there's any :)


	3. From Zero

Academy City was supposed to be a city with technology 30 years ahead of the world, but it looked just like any other ordinary city in Japan. The car driving her and Touma to a research facility was being driven by an AI, but the same cannot be said for the other cars driven manually by humans.

"Is everything alright?" said Touma.

Misaki kept her eyes by the window, "Yeah."

Couldn't he just lie about not finding her necklace and accidentally viewed the contents within it? It was his fault for making things so awkward.

"You don't seem alright."

"I'm fine. Just leave me alone for a while."

Touma sighed resignedly as they left the car. He should really stop sighing. What did he expect from speaking the truth? Hug him with tears of gratitude for being the hero in her life? Start catering to his every whims and fancies like a love-stricken maiden hoping to win his love one day? Sorry if things didn't turn out the way you wanted it to be, you fucking imbecile.

A scientist led Misaki into a room where she would go through the Power Development Program. There were floating translucent panels filled with data and a chair equipped with very complicated looking machineries. A glimpse of what Academy City should be like as a technologically advanced city.

"I think I see what this city prioritizes the most," said Misaki.

The scientist introduced himself as Kihara Noukan. An experienced neurologist who sometimes does Power Development operations for fun.

Noukan inserted an IV line on her arm, "You have nothing to worry about. I take each and every operation I do very seriously."

"That's very reassuring from the guy who said he does those operations for fun."

Misaki would have loved for a female to do this operation instead, but she wasn't going to be a baby and scream for a replacement. Besides, who knows what sort of advantages she could... milk out from Noukan?

She slowly drew a circle on the back of the scientist's hand with a smile. "I understand that esper levels isn't something you can control, but I wonder if it's possible for you to give me a better ability?"

In Academy City, there were about 2.3 million people who are under the Power Development Program. Out of those people, 60% are Level 0s, which meant they were either powerless or had so little power that they might as well be powerless. The remaining 40% may not be a Level 0, but they might as well be a Level 0 if they have a useless ability.

Noukan placed a face mask over her, "Unfortunately, no. Rest assured that if you put in enough hard work, you will eventually obtain a useful ability."

He was either oblivious or being intentionally oblivious to her advances. Too much research and experimenting must have turned him into a virgin freak like Issac Newton.

"Fine."

Whatever ability she was going to get, it better be something so useless that no evil forces in Academy City would even think about bothering her.

* * *

Touma and Misaki made their way through a crowd before entering a restaurant for lunch.

"Good news, I'm cured," said Touma with a big smile on his face.

"You're cured? How?" said Misaki incredulously. No wonder Touma was willing to squeeze through the crowd with her.

"It's hard to explain… I guess somehow that thing in my right hand partially broke through the seal which resulted in a lot of misfortune for everyone. Now that it's properly sealed back in my right hand, everything should be okay now."

"You mean the power in your right hand? Or are you talking about a demonic entity that lives inside your right hand?"

"Demonic? I don't even know what- never mind, let's not talk about that anymore. The more I go on, the more crazier you think I am."

Imagine Breaker was a name Academy City gave to the power in his right hand which by the way is separate from that thing. Imagine Breaker apparently has the ability to negate supernatural phenomenons, such as esper abilities. For example, her esper ability was to transmit her thoughts to someone by touching them, but it would not work if she touched Touma's right hand while doing so. It would work if she touched somewhere else other than his right hand though. Maybe there was some truth in what he was saying.

Speaking of which, her esper ability was oddly labelled as Mental Out instead of Telepathy. It did kind of make sense though if you consider Mental as in thoughts in your head and Out as in transmitting those thoughts out of your head, but why not just name it Telepathy in the first place?

"Anyway," Touma raised his glass of vanilla soda, "Let's forget about everything in the past and start afresh in this new city."

Misaki giggled as she clinked her glass against his glass, "Cheers."

Guess he wasn't a complete idiot after all. See, it's not that hard to resolve the awkwardness between us.

After lunch, there was still some time to go sightseeing around the district before reporting to the boarding school at 5pm.

Misaki grabbed hold of Touma's hand. His face went red but chose not to say anything. What's the meaning of this? No response? Come on, at least say something to the super cute girl who just held your hand? I'm not going to embarrass myself by being the first one to speak.

Those jealous males hurling death glares at Touma should look at themselves in the mirror first. An ugly attitude is why they will and should remain single for the rest of their lives.

Misaki gave up when they reached the traffic light, "I'm holding your hand right now."

"Yes. I'm aware of that."

"Don't you think that it's because I really like you a lot?"

"What? So it isn't because you're afraid you'd lose me in the crowd? It'd be really troublesome if that were to happen because we haven't got our smartphones yet."

Misaki tightened her grip around Touma's hand. She wanted so badly to slap him for being that dense. It's okay, maybe he's just too embarrassed to admit otherwise.

They entered a phone shop to get their smartphones.

Touma looked intently at the various plans available.

"Let's go with the couple plan," said Touma.

Misaki's heart skipped a beat. Was that a- a confession?! Wait a minute… did he choose that plan because it was the cheapest plan available?

"I never thought I'd say this, but today must be my lucky day," said Touma excitedly. "I've never seen a plan that cheap ever in my life."

"All you have to do is take a picture together and you two will be eligible for the promotional pricing," said the smiling saleswoman with an instant camera.

Misaki hopped onto Touma's back and asked for the photo to be taken that way. What a lucky day indeed. She had her legs wrapped around his waist and her chest firmly pressed against his back. There are countless men who would pay through their noses for this experience.

After they were done with photo taking, the saleswoman gave her a leftover star keychain from the last promotion which looked good on her new smartphone. To complement her keychain, she also got a white phone case with starry patterns.

Before they left the shop, the saleswoman handed them a physical copy of the picture and sent a digital copy to their smartphone through the instant camera which had a built-in messaging function. It wouldn't be surprising if it could also be used to browse websites.

The smartphones in Academy City were so advanced that it was almost like a mini computer with the added functionality of an ordinary mobile phone. The Internet was now in the palms of her hands.

"If you beg me, I'll teach you how to evade the ban placed on porn websites," said Misaki.

"Don't ever underestimate men when it comes to porn. Our collective efforts can defeat any ban in Academy City."

Touma proudly showed off the first search result about how a legendary hacker known as the Goalkeeper gave up fighting the hordes of men who relentlessly defeated her efforts in banning porn websites.

"How often do you watch porn then? Do you have a favourite genre?"

"That's none of your business."

Misaki smiled, "Okay."

It was nice not to worry about this conversation turning into something perverted. There was a creep who- forget it.

Misaki noticed a bra that flew out from an alley corner. She tore through the alley and picked up a brick. There was a thug on top of a topless girl fondling her chest. She smashed the brick across that thug's head. A hand stopped her from dealing the next blow.

"You'll kill that guy!" said Touma.

Misaki dropped the brick, "I just… I'm sorry."

Forget it. He wouldn't understand that it was necessary for some kind of trash to be permanently disposed of.

The topless girl quickly put on her bra and her tracksuit top. Her face was bloody and bruised. She must have fought the four thugs lying unconscious but failed to defeat the last thug.

"Let's call Judgement," said Touma.

"No. Pretend you saw nothing, " said the girl before turning to Misaki. "You'd understand why right?"

"Take care," said Misaki before dragging a confused Touma out of the alley.

"But shouldn't we call Judgement to arrest that guy for assault?" said Touma.

"If she doesn't want Judgement to be called, then we should respect her decision. It's just as simple as that."

Touma sighed, "I guess you have a point."

They soon arrived at their dormitory owned by a boarding school which they will be attending bridging classes at for the next two to three years before advancing to high school.

For some reason, he seemed rather upset.

"Are you alright?" said Misaki.

"Must be tough being a girl if such things keep happening to them."

"It is, but that's no reason to just give up on life don't you think? Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."

Misaki waved goodbye to Touma as she headed to her room.

If I told you that you're the only reason why I haven't given up on life yet, would you believe me or would you brush this off as a stupid joke? Maybe I'm the stupid joke who can only live because of you.

* * *

Kihara Noukan went through a report generated by the Tree Diagram with a metallic pair of extensions from his golden retriever body as a pleasant scent of bacon drifted from the kitchen. It said that the probability of Shokuhou Misaki achieving Level 5 was an impressive 97.9% given that the appropriate resources are allocated to her Power Development Curriculum.

Yuiitsu served a plate of eggs and bacon to Noukan, "Can't you believe it? That invisible entity from that boy's right hand actually said I lacked imagination."

Yuiitsu claimed that there was something nudging her to chop off Touma's right arm while doing the Power Development operation for him. She got curious and decided to do exactly that. An entity burst out of his right shoulder. It may be invisible, but you knew it was there facing you. It then said that she lacked imagination and retreated back into the right arm it regenerated for Touma.

"It's true," said Noukan.

Yuiitsu stared at him incredulously, "What? Do I really…"

"Lack imagination? Yes."

Most Kiharas like Yuiitsu never developed powers of their own because they are unable to accept that the scientific laws of this world are arbitrary. They can be modified like changing the settings in a software program. Simply put, they were too logical despite being geniuses.

"May I ask in what aspect do I lack imagination in?"

"Curiosity killed the cat, my dear niece."

Yuiitsu pinched off a piece of bacon strip with a sigh, "I get what you mean, but that is so very un-Kihara like. Are we just going to leave-"

"We cannot defeat the Chairman. If you're not careful, he'll end your life with just a thought. Forget everything you know about Kamijou Touma."

Yuiitsu fell silent and went back to the kitchen.

Touma's right hand was so important to the Chairman that whoever saw too deeply into its true nature will be eliminated without question.


	4. Academy City

Misaki picked a simple white dress from her wardrobe. No need to be so flashy on the first day. This boarding school did not require students to wear a uniform and even allowed them to go outside on their own after classes as long as they come back before 7pm.

_This school is awesome! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o_ texted Misaki to Touma before sending a selfie of herself in lingerie. Since she hadn't put on her dress yet, might as well. All boys like seeing a cute girl in lingerie. Touma was no exception.

Misaki sent another message to Touma.

_If I find this picture on another guy's phone, I'll show you what it means to be truly unfortunate._

Her stomach revolted at the thought of those trash masturbating to her pictures saved in their phones.

_I'm serious! ໒( ᓀ ‸ ᓂ )७_

Her roommate Takitsubo Rikou on the other hand, only had tracksuits in her wardrobe. Tracksuits to her are the most comfortable and practical outfit ever, so there was no reason for her to wear anything else. Definitely someone who doesn't care about her image at all. She looked so sleepy all the time that maybe she didn't have the energy in the first place.

Despite her sleepy appearance, Rikou could beat four men unconscious in the alley. The last scumbag trash standing almost had his way with a weakened Rikou if it wasn't for a brick across his head.

What a strange coincidence that the girl she met in an alleyway would end up as her roommate.

"... There's nothing wrong with pineapples on pizza," said Rikou. "I love how the sweetness of the pineapple brings the pizza to life."

"You should visit Italy someday," said Misaki. She winced in agony at the thought of eating junk pizza littered with pineapples. "Once you know what real pizza tastes like, you can never go back to eating rubbish."

"You look like a circus freak with your starry eyes, but you don't see me treat you any differently."

"Hey, there's no need to get personal."

It was difficult to tell if Rikou was joking or deeply offended because she only had one expression most of the time, but a general rule of thumb was that if Rikou raised a fist against you in class for calling her Sleepyhead for the hundredth time again, she was definitely deeply offended.

Misaki bowed before introducing herself in front of the class at the request of her form teacher, Tsukuyomi Komoe.

In Academy City where it was possible for a form teacher to be around the same height as her, her starry eyes suddenly didn't feel out of place. Adults might have found her eyes exotic, but kids often loved bullying her for being too different. The bullying got so bad that she was forced to stay at home for the safety of those losers.

The class monitor Fukiyose Seiri shook Misaki's hand with a smile, "If there's anything you need, feel free to approach me."

"Don't bother," said Rikou. "This class monitor is so useless that even a sack of potatoes is more useful than her."

"I tried my best Rikou, and I'm sorry that they're still calling you names. But I'm just a class monitor, not the Chairman of Academy City," said Seiri.

"She's probably just in a bad mood today," said Misaki to Seiri before quickly following Rikou to her seat.

Misaki was assigned a seat beside the window. Next to her was an albino girl with red eyes who introduced herself as Suzushina Yuriko. Rikou was seated next to Yuriko at the opposite end.

Yuriko had a far more pleasant vibe than Rikou even though she looked like a snow demon. The pixie hairstyle Yuriko wore looked great on her, but it was easy to mistake her as a guy if she wasn't wearing a skirt.

"I swear Rikou is a really nice girl once you get to know her. Just don't be rude and call her names," said Yuriko.

Misaki took out her textbook, "She's also someone very, very fond of pineapple on pizzas."

Today's lesson was on AIM diffusion fields, which was what all espers subconsciously emit. Even a Level 0 emits AIM diffusion fields, but only just a negligible amount. The more higher leveled one was, the stronger their AIM diffusion fields was. This was related to a concept called Personal Reality, a concept that may seem easy to understand at a glance, but their teacher Miss Tsukuyomi had to complete a masters in Personal Reality just to be qualified enough to teach them the fundamentals.

Yuriko turned to face Rikou, "You never told me you liked pineapple on pizzas."

"Because you never asked," said Rikou.

Yuriko nodded with a satisfied smile. Friends must be something very important to her if knowing a small thing she never knew before about a friend made her happy.

"Then do you like pineapple on pizzas?" said Yuriko to Misaki.

"Of course not. Pineapple does not belong on pizzas, period."

"Neither does the stars in your eyes," said Rikou.

Just how much does Rikou loves pineapple on pizzas to the point where she'd get personal at the slightest insult of it?!

"Oh yes, that reminds me. Are you free to join us for lunch later, Misaki?" said Yuriko.

"Sure, I'd love to!"

A snow demon and an eccentric girl possibly on the spectrum. Sounds like a fun group to be friends with. Or at the very least, a group where she finally wouldn't feel too out of place.

* * *

Hamazura Shiage loved Hawaiian pizza so much he finished two whole pans by himself for lunch. He happened to be a good friend of Takitsubo Rikou, the girl who was saved by Misaki's insane plan to defuse the bomb.

"I don't care what the stuck-up pizza purists say, pineapple on pizza is the best fucking thing I've ever tasted," said Shiage.

"Certainly not as bad as they said it was," said Touma.

Shiage was also his roommate and classmate. As thanks for getting Rikou out of trouble with some thugs in an alley, he decided to treat him to pizza for lunch. It was actually Misaki who saved Rikou with a brick to the thug's head, not him. They wanted him to be the hero in a story that omitted how Rikou almost let the thug had his way with her.

Misaki sent a picture of her having lunch with Rikou and another friend named Suzushina Yuriko. She had a cutesy V-sign pose with a brilliant smile. Yuriko had a more subdued smile like she wasn't used to smiling at the camera while Rikou appeared to be as sleepy as always but if you looked close enough she actually had a small smile on her face.

Friends was something Touma thought he could no longer have because he would end up cursing them with misfortune most of the time. Misaki was an exception, and as much as Touma hated to admit it, he was glad to have Misaki by his side. She was like a ball of sunshine that lit up his world.

There was another picture Misaki sent in a bikini which he deleted right after he saw the next message. He had no interest in knowing what it means to be truly unfortunate. If she's that worried, then maybe not send the picture in the first place?

Shiage was the only other person who saw the bikini picture and he definitely did not have this picture saved in his phone.

"When I think about it, Sleepyhead would look awesome in a bikini," said Shiage. "She has like the biggest boobs in her class."

"You sure Rikou is not on steroids or anything?"

Shiage laughed as he pointed to a bespectacled girl sweeping rubbish on the concrete pathway beside a convenience store, "Why don't you ask that girl over there if she's also on some boob enhancing steroids?"

The girl was around their age, but her boobs was around the same size as Rikou. The green armband over her left arm signified that she was a member of Judgement, a student police force responsible for maintaining order in Academy City. Despite Shiage knowing that, he still had the audacity to point at Judgement girl and laugh loudly about her boobs.

"Sir, if you say one more thing about my breasts, I'll detain you in custody for 48 hours," said the angry Judgement girl to Shiage.

"I know my rights, Miss Judgement. You have no power to arrest me unless I'm misusing my powers," said Shiage.

A smug girl with a wide forehead snapped her fan shut, "Apologize to that girl right now, or I'll-"

"Or what?" said Shiage. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

The smug girl glared at them, as if they had committed a crime for not knowing who she was, "My name is Kongou Mitsuko. Even if you don't know who I am, you must at least know about Kongou Airlines, the biggest aviation company in the whole of Japan."

Touma sighed. This was getting way out of hand.

"It's all our fault for insulting that girl over there. Sorry. Let's go, Shiage," said Touma.

Mitsuko snapped open her fan, "I'm not going to let you two off that easily."

Touma raised his right arm and negated a concentrated blast of wind from Mitsuko.

Mitsuko blinked in confusion before her smug smile returned, "So you do have an ability. I was wrong to think that you were a useless Level 0 scum like the others."

"Level has nothing to do with this. Judge people by their actions, not by their levels!" said Touma. She reminded him too much of the trigger-happy mobs who declared their parents were demons to be purged from this world just because they gave birth to him.

"I've never met any Level 0s worthy of any respect. All they do is whine and whine about how low leveled they are without thinking about putting any effort in improving. I think I was being nice when I call them scums," said Mitsuko.

"You're just a fucking moron."

Touma dodged a cylindrical robot ejected by Mitsuko's ability. The robot crashed into a lamppost behind him.

"What are you waiting for Miss Judgement?" said Shiage. "Arrest that bitch for destroying public property."

The Judgement girl hesitatingly took out her handcuffs, "Miss, I'm sorry but you clearly violated a law."

"You must be joking! You can't arrest me. I was just trying to protect you from these two perverts," said Mitsuko.

A screeching sound rang out.

The Judgement girl and Mitsuko fell on their knees in agony.

Touma grabbed Mitsuko with his right hand, hoping that it might somehow make her feel better, "Are you alright?"

Mitsuko heaved a sigh of relief, "I don't know what you just did, but the sound doesn't hurt as much as before."

The Judgement girl grabbed hold of Touma's right pinky, "My senior mentioned that there was a device that could paralyze espers by emitting a special kind of sound to disrupt their AIM field. I think his right hand is somehow negating the effects of that sound."

Touma dialed for an ambulance with his left hand. Meanwhile, there were countless others in a similar situation as Mitsuko and Judgement girl, but there was no way he could help everyone with just one right hand.

"I see," said Mitsuko. "You must have some kind of molecule manipulation ability, spiky scumbag."

"That's not actually-"

"Next time, treat girls with the respect they deserve. They're not objects for you creeps to be commenting on."

"I… never mind."

Shiage picked up a robotic limb near the lamppost before flames erupted from a window at the upper levels of a shopping mall.

"Stay here. I'll go find the source of that sound," said Shiage.

Touma shook off the two girls holding his right hand and chased after Shiage into an alley. Shiage would most likely get himself killed trying to do this alone.

"What's the plan?" said Touma.

"Disable the sound and then beat those bastards up."

"Let's just go with disable the sound."

Touma picked up a trash can lid and a broken beer bottle. A lousy substitute for a sword and a shield that would probably fall apart after a few seconds in actual combat.

He then hid behind a stack of crates with Shiage when he heard chattering. The source of the sound and the group of thugs behind this whole thing must be right up ahead after a corner.

"Which corner?" said Touma.

"Good question. Left?"

Pop vocals blared cheerfully from Shiage's phone.

"Or we can just take a corner each!"

Touma hurled the broken beer bottle at a thug before raising his trash can lid against a barrage of bullets.

"You think you can buy enough time for me to change my ringtone?" said Shiage.

"Seriously?!"

"Guess I'll have to change it later."

The loud clanging came to a gradual stop. They were out of bullets. He hurled the lid like a frisbee and knocked out the remaining thugs.

Touma leaped to the right to face the last thug with a gun pointed at him.

"You destroy the Capacity Down, and I'll shoot your friend over here!" said the thug.

Shiage was behind him facing a van equipped with a stereo-like system. A robotic limb had pierced through the radar dish attached at the top of the van.

"Calm down. We're all Level 0s here. I know being a Level 0 sucks, but there's no need to kill innocents," said Touma.

"I've never killed anyone. I just wanted to send a message to them."

"Them?"

"Bullshit. You just fucking set a bomb off at Seventh Mist. Do you have any idea just how many people are there?" said Shiage.

"That wasn't me, you fucking piece of shit."

"So you expect us to believe you and let this go?" said Shiage.

The thug pulled the trigger.

Touma charged towards the thug, "Destroy the Capacity Down!" as more bullets went through his body. The pain only served as an adrenaline shot to keep him standing and react even faster against the thug's attempt to physically hit him with the gun.

The thug threw an overhead strike, "I've lost everything because of them!"

Touma ducked and sent an uppercut across the thug's jaw, "I've lost people too. I also wished that there was something I could do to change that. But there was nothing I could do!"

The thug smashed Touma's nose with the pistol, "Spare me your fucking hypocrisy. At the end of the day, you're just a coward afraid to fight against the darkness."

Touma clenched his fist. He did not know what exactly did the thug meant by 'the darkness', but there was a darkness in his heart he once fought against. If the world hated him so much, and refused to let him die, then why not just destroy it? That thug was right. He was a coward. The reason why he hadn't turned into a terrorist like that thug was because of his fear of losing whatever he had left.

"If you think your childish actions can change anything, then let me first destroy that fucked up delusion of yours!"

He channeled whatever energy he had left into his fist and knocked the thug unconscious

Touma collapsed onto a pool of his own blood, "Do me a favor and call Anti-Skill. I don't think I can stay awake any longer."

"Sorry," said Shiage. "I just busted both my hands trying to destroy that damm Capacity Down. Turns out that metal is an excellent conductor of electricity. Cool finisher speech by the way."

"Thanks. It sure sounded a lot better than shut the fuck up, you public nuisance," said Touma before his consciousness slipped away into darkness.

* * *

Suzushina Yuriko never had much real life experience with boys, but she was sure that boys loved games like Dragon Quest or Fatal Kombat, not funny dating simulators like Cat Paradise. There was even a 50% discount on Fatal Kombat 7.

"All men are the same," said Rikou. "What they truly love most are cute girls with large breasts. The larger, the better. I know from personal experience."

"I'm sure Touma would like Fatal Kombat 7 more than Cat Paradise," said Misaki. "Also, you're not that cute."

"See Yuriko, all they care about are breasts. Looks don't even matter to them. A shallow game like Cat Paradise would be perfect for him."

Rikou thought of buying a game for Touma as thanks for helping her out to chase away some thugs at the alleyway. The problem of what game to buy could be easily solved by calling Touma, but that would ruin the surprise.

"You should also buy a game for Shiage for always making him so worried about you," said Yuriko. "And me as well."

Rikou liked exploring alleyways. No matter how dangerous it was, she didn't care. When the mood strikes, there's no stopping her. Thank god nothing bad happened so far. The best Rikou could agree on as a compromise was to do her exploring during the day before sunset.

Rikou grabbed three copies of Cat Paradise, "You can't call yourself a real gamer until you played Cat Paradise."

Yuriko nursed her cheeks with a mock frown. Associating Cat Paradise with the term real gamers was like a slap across her face.

"That hurts. And to think I treated you as my best friend."

A light bulb lit up within Yuriko's mind. Time to end this senseless fight over which game to get for Touma.

Yuriko grabbed a copy of Rebellious Kunoichi, "Why don't we go with this? There's both fighting and boobs in this game. I think it's absolutely perfect."

"No," said both Misaki and Rikou.

"But… why?"

Misaki pointed to a ridiculously busty girl on the front cover of My Lovely Stepsister, "It's simple. When a man gets aroused, blood from his brain gets diverted to his genitals."

Rikou then pointed to Fatal Kombat 7, "Due to the lack of blood in his brain, he is unable to focus on the fighting and ends up losing too many lives. Those sluts now becomes an annoying distraction instead of eye candy to be enjoyed while fighting."

"Therefore," said Misaki. "Getting Touma a game with either 100% girls or 100% fighting would give him the best experience possible."

Yuriko resignedly shrugged her shoulders, "Boys aren't that complicated. I think he'd be happy with whatever we give him."

Participating in raids in a game called Fantasy Online with other players through voice chat was the only time Yuriko had any interactions with boys. Young or old, friendly or unfriendly, all of them were simple people who just wanted a good time with their friends through games.

She also wanted to have a good time with her friends just like anyone else, but until she learned how to properly control her powers, that would always be a dream she kept on praying for it to be true one day. All it took was one slip up, and her friends would either end up dead or permanently disabled.

There was something… a strange sound… no!

Yuriko hugged her knees in tears. Powerful tremors. Things breaking apart and smashing against each other. People screaming in agony. She couldn't bear to look. Her powers were going out of control again because of that sound!

"Yuriko, listen. I need you to calm down," said Rikou.

Rikou had the ability to manipulate AIM fields to a certain extent. If she concentrated hard enough, she could use her ability to bypass her passive Reflection and touch her without any grave repercussions. Whatever the sound was, it was specifically meant to disrupt the AIM fields of every esper within its range and send them out of control.

"Everyone will be okay, right?"

Rikou nodded, "Misaki is doing her best to shut off that sound, so promise me you'd do your best and stay calm, okay?"

"Okay."

Yuriko closed her eyes and took in deep breaths. She needed to be calm for Rikou so that she would have an easier time correcting the distortion in her AIM field.

The sound stopped.

Rikou lied.

It was the same as always.

Blood of her precious friend, all around her.

* * *

Facing Hebitani Tsuguo was three of Wataru's men wrapped up in ropes like a Christmas gift.

"We'll never work for an ugly bastard like you," spat one of Wataru's men.

"Wataru will always be our leader, you fucking traitor!" said another one of Wataru's men.

Under Wataru's leadership, Big Spider was a baby throwing tantrums that the adults laugh off as a cute nuisance. Wataru was naive to think he could send a message to them without hurting innocent people. Now that Wataru has been arrested by Anti-Skill, it was time for the baby to throw tantrums that would bring those adults to their knees.

Tsuguo instructed his underlings to drag those three men to the scrapyard near their hideout. If they insist on being so stubborn, fine. Their organs should fetch a good price at the black market. Nashio Gonshiro was another stubborn fuck who set a booby trap for his underlings at Seventh Mist as a fuck you to him. Luckily, the fucker's booby trap caught his underlings after they were done with the job.

He dialed a number on his phone, "Is this Mr Aritomi? How soon will we get paid for that job at Seventh Mist?"

The job involved them getting past Seventh Mist's security and hack into the mall's PA system to play Mr Aritomi's special audio file. God knows what the hell he was trying to achieve with his 'experiment'.

"Ah yes," said Mr Aritomi, "The data we've gathered with your help has-"

"Just shut the fuck up and pay us already."

"Very well."

Academy City will soon learn that Level 0s are humans that deserve some fucking respect, not cheap disposable utensils.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

I guess by hearing the name Aritomi, the Silent Party arc would probably come to mind. It will be nothing like what you see in Railgun S, that I promise you.

If you're wondering where is Touma's class, it's next to Misaki's class. I wanted to talk more about Touma's class in this chapter, but it somehow ended up strange, so I decided to shift it to the next chapter instead.

By the way to the two arguing Guests, like what Fortitude501 said, please take your fight somewhere else. I'll be deleting any future reviews if it isn't about the story, thanks.

You know, I actually can't just write what I like. It's always a compromise between what the readers would want to read, and what I want to write. Just as I spent time writing this story, you the readers also spent time reading this story.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and do leave a review down below if you have any comments.


	5. Prelude To A Tragedy

**Author's Note:**

If you're a first time reader who decided to skip Chapter 1 and jump straight into this chapter, don't. Go read it. Else, it would be preferable if you read Chapter 1 again just to refresh your memory. Anyway, if you find Chapter 1 acceptable, you should find Chapter 5 acceptable as well.

* * *

Misaki clenched her teeth as she fought against her own out of control AIM field from knocking her unconscious. The sound must be stopped before Yuriko ends up destroying the whole mall. She shut off the sound inside the control room through a computer with four screens before letting out a long sigh of relief. This computer had administrative rights over the entire PA system of this mall, but the PA system was split across different areas, so it was possible for her to shut off just the specific area where Yuriko was in.

Oh god, no.

Misaki furiously typed commands after commands into the computer. Fighting against another hacker was like a game of tug-of-war. The first one who slips up and enters the wrong command loses complete control over the computer.

"Not bad," said a female robotic voice.

Because Misaki could only focus on defending just the specific area which Yuriko was in, she left the rest undefended. She didn't know enough about Academy City's computers to exponentially increase her command inputting speed. In this fight, the faster one is able to input commands, the more areas one can defend.

"I won't lose to a disgusting hacker like you," said Misaki.

For Yuriko's sake, she would keep fighting. Forcing Yuriko to do things she doesn't want to… that was no different from rape!

The disgusting hacker took over three out of the four screens. All three screens was now playing a video of her having sex with the fat owner of a PC cafe to get a permanent room for free.

Misaki's hands went into auto-pilot as she stared at the screen with her mouth agape in horror. That's impossible. She made sure there was no recording devices hidden in the room. It must have been recorded with Academy City's technology... the rapist who secretly followed her all along planted a bug somewhere on her clothes?!

"Whore," said the disgusting hacker.

Misaki blinked tears away. The disgusting hacker could have just played that same sound to drive her AIM field out of control and win, but no, she just had to remind her of a traumatic past she wished she could forget about.

"I'd like to at least know who I'm dealing with," said Misaki with every word dripping with venom. If she could reach behind the screen and strangle the hacker to death even if it means destroying any possible future with Touma, she would.

"I'm the Devil of Academy City. I'll contact you again when I have some use for you."

The Devil disconnected. Misaki quickly took control over the remaining areas and stopped the sound for good. Time to turn-

"Put your hands up!" said a male voice.

Misaki raised both her hands, and turned around slowly. A scrawny male security guard who looked around 19 or 20 years old was pointing a gun at her. There was a noticeable bulge in his blue pants. It must be because of that disgusting porn video still playing behind. Good. Less blood flowing to his brain meant that he was more easily distracted.

She lowered a hand and undid the zip behind her dress. Every action she took to strip away her dress and lingerie has to be slow and deliberate. Any sudden action might scare that virgin enough to fire a shot at her. The dark blue patch around his crotch area was definitely not him being so scared that he pissed his pants.

A naked Misaki turned all the way round, "Look, no weapons."

"Can y-you at least tell me why are you here?"

Misaki licked her lips seductively as she grabbed hold of that virgin's hands, "Could you promise to pretend you didn't see me if I… help you out with your little problem over there?"

The virgin's face flushed bright red, "I don't understand what you mean by that!"

Misaki guided the gun back to its holster with one hand as she brushed her other hand across the bulge. It was disgusting to see that bulge twitch excitedly in response.

"How cute," giggled Misaki. She had gotten so good with putting on a mask so convincing she could fool any man into thinking that she was completely into him.

"It's my first time, so..."

With the gun safely away from his hands, Misaki triggered her Mental Out ability and knocked him unconscious by rapidly flooding his mind with junk telepathic messages similar to launching a Denial Of Service attack to a server. She then wrapped her hands with his uniform and fired a few shots to his head. The less people who knew about her past, the better.

Yes, she'd fuck anyone no matter how repulsive if the price was right. It was the fastest and easiest way to earn money and benefits for her plan to escape from that monster Hiroshi Goro. But why limit herself right? She could fuck even more men and get even more money and benefits for her own selfish gains. The fat owner of a PC cafe not only gave her a permanent room after letting him fuck her, but also taught her how to operate a computer and even enrolled her into an expensive virtual course on how to hack into almost any computer system conducted by the legendary Antonio Katze himself.

If Touma ever found out about how utterly disgusting she actually was... no, he must never find out. Never.

* * *

Misaki knew Touma would survive being shot at. He was strong enough to survive multiple suicide attempts in the past according to his mother. Even so, it hurts to see him lying unconscious on that bed hooked up to machines.

"That crazy motherfucker is going to be alright," said Shiage.

"I hope so."

Easy for you to say that when you're not the one being shot at.

All Shiage suffered was second degree burns for ripping apart a loudspeaker known as the Capacity Down with his bare hands. Academy City's healthcare was so advanced that it took only an hour of intensive therapy to completely heal those burns.

Rikou was already awake despite having suffered multiple injuries to her internal organs for attempting to keep her both her AIM field and Yuriko's AIM field from spiraling out of control. If Rikou could wake up, so will Touma.

"You keep an eye on Touma. I'll be right back," said Misaki.

Seated at a bench just outside the hospital building was Yuriko.

Misaki offered Yuriko a can of iced cappuccino, "You still have an hour or so before visiting hours are over. I'm sure Rikou would love for you to visit her."

Yuriko sighed, "I know. I just don't have the guts to face her. It was all my fault."

"It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Repeat after me."

It was all that Devil's fault. Not Yuriko.

The feeling of being forced into doing things she didn't want to do was something Misaki understood too well. The part that really screwed her up was the huge disconnect between her body and mind each time she was forced to do it.

"Misaki? Why are you crying?" said Yuriko.

Misaki frantically wiped her tears away. Just when she thought she had already let go. Turns out she had just merely buried it somewhere deep within her.

"Let me go wash my face," said Misaki.

She was supposed to convince Yuriko to visit Rikou, not hide in the toilet and push those dark memories of losing over and over again against herself back into a tub of vanilla ice cream.

Waiting for Misaki outside was Yuriko.

"Are you alright?" said Yuriko.

"Yeah."

"If there's anything troubling you, I'm all ears."

"I'm fine, really."

Yuriko nodded with a knowing smile, "Great. Let's go."

And then they headed into Rikou's ward and started chatting about whatever came to mind like clothes and favourite TV shows. She was just a friend that Yuriko met for less than a day, yet Yuriko was willing to let go of her own issues of facing Rikou instantly just to make her feel better.

Misaki mentioned how nice it would be to wear a magical girl costume from Magical Girl Kanami with a smile. A dirty slut like her may not deserve any of the kindness Yuriko had given her, but that doesn't mean she was going to throw it away like an ungrateful brat.

* * *

Yomikawa Aiho opened her laptop with a groan to write a report on today's incident at Seventh Mist. This was the part of her job as an Anti-Skill officer she hated most.

At approximately 1400 hours, a mysterious sound being played over the PA system of a shopping mall known as Seventh Mist caused the AIM diffusion fields of espers in the mall to go out of control. This resulted in damages totaling 700 million yen with 20 dead and 37 injured.

Komoe sighed, "I hope Yuriko understands that it's not her fault."

Suzushina Yuriko may have a powerful AIM diffusion field, but it was the nature of her ability that resulted in the death of 20 people when her AIM diffusion field went out of control. An AIM diffusion field is merely a conduit through which an esper ability can manifest itself in the real world. No matter how strong an AIM diffusion field is, if its nature is something like Clairvoyance, it'll have a lesser impact when out of control compared to Vector Manipulation.

"At times like this, a dozen beers to drown your sorrows is the way to go."

"Don't you dare take her down a path of a hopeless alcoholic. And besides, Yuriko is underage."

Aiho laughed, "I guess she'll have to settle with fruit juice until she's older."

Anyway, to stop Yuriko from destroying the whole mall, Shokuhou Misaki made her way to the control room at the 47th floor where she attempted to stop the sound from playing through the computer in charge of the PA system. According to Misaki's testimony, stopping the sound was her only priority and she did not pay much attention to anything else.

Meanwhile, there were three unidentified males who died of an explosion that occurred at the 47th floor as well and a security guard named Arata Daiki who died from multiple gunshot wounds to his head. The bullets were fired from his own gun... what? The worst part was that surveillance data was conveniently wiped out, so there was no trails available to follow. A sure sign of some meddling from the 'darkness' of Academy City as usual.

Aiho closed her laptop. The report can wait until tomorrow morning.

A night out with Komoe was one of the ways she kept herself sane. Dealing with the frustration that there was nothing she could do about the injustices in Academy City never gets easier. It sure wasn't easy for those Level 0s in Skill-Out factions as well.

* * *

Touma woke up to the smell of a hospital. He had been in hospitals enough times to know if he's in one just from the smell alone.

A doctor with a frog-like face jotted notes on a medical chart. He introduced himself as Heaven Canceller, the doctor who took out the bullets from his body.

"It's a miracle that you're still alive."

"You're not the first doctor to tell me that."

Heaven Canceller raised an eyebrow, "Let's hope I'll be the last doctor to tell you that."

"By the way, how long have I been unconscious?"

"Three days."

"Miss Shokuhou left some money by the drawer. If you're thirsty, there's a vending machine right outside here."

"Where's Misaki?"

"I'm not sure, but she'll probably be back soon."

Touma left the ward and waited for his turn to buy a drink from the vending machine. Shiage should be fine. Academy City's healthcare is so advanced that even third degree burns can be healed in just a few hours with their regenerative therapy according to this poster beside the machine.

"Rotten luck," said Touma. He even pressed the same button and inserted the same amount of money as the person in front of him. Is this a form of discrimination? What happened to equality for all? Just because his luck was shit doesn't mean he should be treated differently from the others.

"Since I'm in a good mood," said a girl with short brown hair. "I'll help you get your drink."

The machine beeped softly when that girl flicked some electric sparks towards it. No drinks came out.

"Anti Electromaster measures huh… I guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way then," said the girl.

She threw a roundhouse kick at the machine, "Chaser!"

The machine spat out a drink. Out of so many options, the machine had to choose cranberry cider. Even stray dogs goes into seizures after sipping cranberry cider, not to mention a human being such as himself.

Touma offered the drink to that girl, "I don't like cranberry cider. Thanks for your help though."

"Don't mind if I do," said the girl before she gulped down the poisonous drink as if it was cranberry soda.

"Why are you at the hospital anyway?"

This girl looked very familiar. Have they met somewhere outside of Academy City before?

"Donating my DNA for medical purposes. Apparently, they're going to find a cure for muscular dystrophy with my DNA."

Touma noticed a nurse in full sprint about to knock into the girl and pulled her into his arms.

"What the hell are you doing?!" said the girl.

"Saving your ass from being knocked down."

"You're awake, Touma," said Misaki. "How long do you intend on holding her in your arms?"

Touma pushed the girl away. There was a dangerous glint in Misaki's eyes. If Misaki was holding a knife, she would definitely stab that girl with a smile on her face. Just like what Mum would almost do if Dad accidentally ends up flirting with other women. Jealousy can be a really scary thing in females.

Wait, why was that girl staring at Misaki so strangely? Does she somehow know her?

Touma realized why that girl looked so familiar to him. She was the crazy Electromaster who also saw that video playing from Misaki's necklace. At that time, she had no idea what she just watched, but she must asked her parents afterwards and now she knows as well.

Come on Biribiri, don't just stare at her. Say something!

"Your eyes… I think I've seen them somewhere before," said Biribiri.

Misaki pressed the button for cranberry cider on the vending machine, "And where if I may ask?"

If Biribiri doesn't come up with something other than 'through a strange video I saw projected from a necklace', the hospital will have to prepare three more operation rooms because things are going to get ugly.

Misaki had maintained her smile for so long it was starting to make him uncomfortable. Biribiri was not only uncomfortable, but angry and disgusted when Misaki offered her the drink.

Biribiri slapped the offer away and left through an elevator. Even if she said nothing, her expression basically answered the one thing he hoped she would not answer. Rotten luck.

Touma sighed, "Technically, she found your necklace, not me."

He then explained to Misaki that the Electromaster who he only remembered as Biribiri since he forgot her name 'saved' her from a mugger. Biribiri, like some people, refused to listen and still chose to touch him despite his warnings. Biribiri somehow lost control over her ability and that triggered the necklace to play the video in it.

"Let's not talk about this ever again. Remember what you said at the restaurant during our first day here?"

"Alright, my bad for talking about it."

He only wanted to clarify things to prevent any misunderstandings, but he did say to forget about whatever happened in the past and start afresh. There shouldn't be any need to clarify something that doesn't matter anymore.

Misaki tossed him the cranberry cider drink, "If you can finish this, I'll give you a reward."

"You can drink it if you want. There's no difference between drinking poison and cranberry cider. I've seen stray dogs go into seizures just from drinking cranberry cider."

"If you trust me, just drink it."

"Alright, I trust that you're not planning to poison me."

Cranberry cider was clearly stated on the can, but the contents inside was actually cranberry soda?! No wonder Biribiri could drink everything without breaking a sweat.

Misaki locked her arms around his arm, "If you look behind at the ingredient label, you'll realize that there's zero alcohol content. There's no way this drink could actually be cider."

"That... makes sense."

Seria-nee, or Kumokawa Seria, used to love pointing out facts like this to him. She was his first friend, but they were so close that he saw her as the smart and reliable older sister. One day, Seria's father died in a freak accident moments after he touched him. The next day after her father's death, she disappeared from his life. He hoped one day he would be able to find Seria and apologise for accidentally cursing her father with misfortune even though that would change nothing.

Misaki had dragged him to the rooftop garden. There were transparent glass panels constructed around the perimeter to prevent anyone from jumping down. Flowers swayed gracefully in the wind as they took a seat on one of the benches.

She rested her head on his shoulder, "I was so worried you were going to be dead for good."

"There's nothing to be worried about. I once jumped from a building and three days later my body healed itself completely. I'm really, really hard to kill. I think I could even survive a nuclear explosion."

"You won't improve as a person if you keep relying on that," yawned Misaki. "All I wish is for a peaceful life in Academy City with you, but… let me just rest for a moment before I continue."

Her head ended up slipping from his shoulder onto his lap.

Touma brushed his fingers across her blonde hair. She must be exhausted from taking care of him for the past three days.

"Thanks."

Even though he probably didn't deserve it, but having this little ball of sunshine care about him was a nice feeling that warmed his heart.

* * *

Aritomi Haruki adjusted his spectacles as he made his way to the facility that would be holding this year's Academic Assembly. In a place where espers get the most attention, the Academic Assembly was somewhere a Level 0 like him can finally be recognized for their intelligence instead of their esper abilities. Just because the Board promoted them to Level 3 or 4 doesn't make them a god who could freely trample upon those below them without any consequences. He may be a Level 0, but he had an intellect that far surpass most people in this city. Yet those dumb espers who could shoot lightning or fire from their hands gets worshipped like a god.

He noticed an Electromaster hurling a lightning bolt at a man running away with a purse in hand. The Electromaster wearing a Gekota hairpin on her head was definitely Misaka Mikoto, the first Electromaster who reached Level 3 about two days ago. There was even a city-wide announcement through the Blimp about her 'achievement'.

The crowd started cheering as the lady thanked the Electromaster for getting her purse back from the man. The Electromaster might appear to be embarrassed from all the attention she was getting, but she was actually enjoying the attention by all those people she deemed as beneath her. Time to knock that arrogant esper down a notch or two.

"Excuse me," said Haruki. "Don't you think you went overboard with what you did?"

"Did I?" said the Electromaster confused. "I assure you that I-"

"Did not use your powers recklessly?"

Haruki kicked one of the paralysed thief's clenched fist to reveal a blade hidden inside, "Fortunately, you managed to incapacitate him in one shot. What if you failed? He could've taken a woman or a child hostage."

The crowd fell into a quiet murmur.

"I-"

"I know-"

Sparks flew from Mikoto's hair, "No you don't! Stop interrupting me!"

She was growing more and more irritated. Good. If she were to electrocute him now, he could then point out how horrible that esper was for using her powers so recklessly. The crowd would surely sympathise with him, and she would lose all that attention she had been enjoying just moments before.

"Just because you're a Level 3 doesn't mean you won't fail. Three days ago, there was another Level 3 who caused the death of 20 people because of the reckless use of her powers. What was her name again? Ah yes, Suzushina Yuriko, the demon who causes destruction wherever she goes."

It wasn't hard to spot Suzushina Yuriko in the crowd. Her Albinism made her stand out among the rest who had normal skin color. How pathetic. Yuriko possessed the strongest ability in Academy City, yet she was a crybaby who would amount to nothing if she was a Level 0. If he had Yuriko's ability, making Academy City a better place would be as easy as making a phone call.

Haruki felt something hard hit his head.

"Who did that?!" said Haruki as he looked around the crowd.

Takitsubo Rikou stepped out of the crowd, "Me. Do you have a problem with that?"

It was no surprise that Academy City would pair the most unique esper with the most powerful esper together. Rikou's ability to manipulate AIM fields to a certain extent made her the most unique esper. She was also predicted to be the most troublesome obstacle to his own plans for Academy City.

"I'm going to call Judgement and arrest you for assault-"

Rikou slammed her foot into his testicles.

He bent over in agony as the waves of pain relentlessly assaulted him. He was wearing spectacles, but his vision had become so blurry he might as well not wear one.

"This is for being a liar," said Rikou. "The incident three days ago was caused by everyone's AIM fields going out of control by a strange sound. Not once did Yuriko recklessly used her powers."

Rikou then pushed him to the ground and firmly planted her foot on his face.

"And this is for being a petty, spiteful man. The fact is that Misaka Mikoto apprehended the thief without causing any harm to him or anyone else around him. You're just jealous that she was the hero, not you."

The crowd erupted into cheers.

Haruki clenched his teeth in anger. She had caused grievous harm to him, and everyone was cheering for her?!

"I won't waste my time with you anymore," spat Haruki.

He endured the booing from the crowd as he stumbled past them with both hands nursing his sore testicles. They will soon realize that having abilities isn't everything. The gods that they worship isn't as omnipotent as they think.

And most importantly, Takitsubo Rikou will pay for what she did to him.

* * *

Misaki formed a telepathic network with the Telepathy Duo, Edasaki Banri and Haruue Erii, by holding hands. The advantage of a telepathic network was that they did not have fight against the loud chattering in the classroom since they could bypass the ear and transmit what they wanted to say directly to the brain. It took some effort, but they managed to establish a connection with Touma. He had a lot of catching up to do since he missed three days of lessons.

It probably wasn't nice to say this, but other than the Telepathy Duo, the rest of Touma's class are either retarded or doesn't care about doing well in their studies. Shiage for example, would rather spend hours on getting good at Mortal Kombat 7 than to study for the upcoming test.  
As for Touma, well, let's just say he's trying his best unlike Shiage.

The three of them decided to shut the telepathic network down. They did what they could for Touma.

Banri patted Touma's shoulder with a sigh, "Your talent lies elsewhere outside of school."

Erii smiled, "Say, do you have any cool talent you can show us?"

Touma scratched the back of his head, "Not really… unless you consider surviving bullet shots a cool talent?"

"That is not a talent," said Misaki.

"It's a cool ability though," said Erii. "I'm sure anyone would love to have the ability to survive being shot at."

"You could do a lot of good with that cool talent of yours. Like joining Judgement and help make the city a better place," said Banri.

Misaki shot a glare at Touma. Please Banri, don't give Touma any ideas that might make him end up at the hospital in a coma again!

Touma gulped, "Which… is also possible without getting involved in a shootout. For example, sweeping the streets can help make the city a better place in its own way."

Misaki nodded with a satisfied smile. Good. He got the message.

"Then you're wasting that talent of yours. Don't you think that's kind of selfish if you choose not to help people in a better way?" said Banri.

Come on Banri, don't be mean. There's nothing wrong with being more considerate to your loved ones and not make them worry so much by playing the hero for no reason.

Misaki held Banri's hand to communicate telepathically the reason why Touma should not be making use of his 'talent' to play hero.

"If you still have parents, then that's a different case of course," said Banri sheepishly. "I'm a Child Error, so I don't have to worry about my parents."

Erii tilted her head in confusion, "But Touma, this is a boarding school for Child Errors. Why are you here if you have parents?"

"An administrative error I guess?" chuckled Touma.

"Non Child Errors have the option to join schools for Child Error if their parents believe that they can get a better education there," said Motoharu as he handed them a notification letter about the upcoming Academic Assembly field trip. "Hey Kamiyan, if you keep at it, you might just be able to form a harem with all the girls in our class and the class next door."

"I really don't get what you mean," said Touma.

Motoharu flashed a sly grin before walking away.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu wore an unbuttoned t-shirt, which was clearly a deliberate attempt to show off his six pack abs, and what's with the sunglasses anyway? Even if this was a beach, he would still look like a slimebag. He also talked like a slimebag, and was probably a slimebag on the inside as well. Touma deserved a better class monitor than this slimebag. Even if Touma no longer curse others with misfortune, he unfortunately still remains unfortunate.

Banri slapped Touma's shoulder with a chuckle, "Don't mind him, he's just messing with you."

"He has a… very unique way of making friends," said Erii.

Those girls were just too naive to see how much of a slimebag Motoharu was.

The Telekinesis Duo, Ishihara Yuusuke and Yamasaki Michio, moved to help their master Yuriko with her bag of groceries. Master as in master and disciple, not master and slave. Yuriko had helped those two in getting better at video games so much that they see Yuriko as their master.

Misaki's eyes lit up upon seeing a tub of strawberry sorbet placed in front of her. How thoughtful of Yuriko to upsize her request!

"You sure you can finish them all before afternoon classes start?" said Touma.

"Of course," said Misaki.

"Don't underestimate the stomach of a girl when it comes to desserts," said Yuriko.

Misaki laughed, "That's right."

She would have given Yuriko a high five if it wasn't for her passive Reflection ability. Anything that touches her gets reflected back in the exact same direction it came from, but the real danger lies in the amount of force that gets reflected back. There was a chance that her arm might get ripped off just by touching Yuriko.

Touma dug through the bag of groceries, "Did you forget about my soda?"

"I was sure I got them for you," said Yuriko as she double checked the contents inside the bag.

"I used your soda to deliver justice for Yuriko," said Rikou.

Shiage grabbed a popsicle from the bag, "What? Because someone made fun of Yuriko's flat chest?"

Rikou twisted Shiage's ears like a mother disciplining her child, "Pervert."

"Alright, alright! I get it!" said Shiage.

While Yuriko and Rikou were out getting food for the class, they encountered a vile man who lied about Yuriko recklessly using her powers three days ago at Seventh Mist. The truth was that everyone's AIM field went out of control because of a strange sound.

Rikou pointed to that vile man on her smartphone. Aritomi Haruki. A vile bespectacled man with small beady eyes like a rat, and supposedly a genius in the study of restricting esper abilities through interfering with their AIM field. He was also one of the researcher involved in the upcoming Academic Assembly event.

Must be disappointing for Yuriko to see that the researcher she has been rooting for to develop a device that could safely restrain her ability was actually a huge jerk. Kicking him in the balls was just letting him off too easily.

Misaki held Touma's right hand up, "What you see here is actually an AIM field nullifier, which is totally way better than whatever that jerk Aritomi has. It has the ability to prevent you from using your esper powers as long as it touches you. Let me demonstrate. Grab hold of Yuriko, will you?"

"Okay?" said Touma as he grabbed Yuriko's arm with his right hand.

Misaki pecked Yuriko on the cheek.

The class fell into complete silence before suddenly erupting into astonished cheers.

Yuriko's face glowed red in embarrassment, "You didn't have to kiss me!"

"We're both girls. There's no need to be shy about it," winked Misaki.

Banri gingerly poked Yuriko, "I can't believe I'm actually touching Yuriko."

Erii slid a finger across Yuriko's cheeks, "Amazing… your skin is just as soft as it looks."

Even Rikou broke into a smile for a second before resting her hand on Yuriko's left arm.

Yuriko broke down into tears of joy.

Rikou hugged Yuriko from behind and stroked her hair like a mother comforting a child.

Misaki wondered if she would be able to start a family someday with Touma. Be a good mother like how Rikou would be someday.

Touma smiled at her.

She smiled back.

Would Touma still be able to smile at her like that if he knew the full story of her dirty past? If he was still able to smile at her like that despite knowing everything, then he was no different than the disgusting men who would do or say anything just to get into her pants.

* * *

Hebitani Tsuguo had enough of people commenting on his punch perm hairstyle. It was a hairstyle he swore to wear forever even if the whole world was laughing at him.

"... But that's the Devil we're about to meet. Are you sure you won't at least consider wearing a wig?" said his trusted comrade Hagiwara Masu.

"I don't care if it's that Devil. I'm not going to change my hairstyle."

It was a silly promise he made with a friend, and not even the Devil can force him to break that promise.

They entered a warehouse in District 17. It was a huge warehouse, but there was only a Powered Suit and a lady in a black latex jumpsuit. Her face was obscured by a green helmet.

Tsuguo slapped Masu for ogling at the lady's hourglass figure, "Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself in front of the Devil."

"This is a variant of the HsPS-15 model," said the lady with a female robotic voice.

The lady in front of them was the Devil of Academy City. She used to have a reputation of beating the shit out of espers who likes to abuse their powers. It was about five months ago when she disappeared without a trace. Some say she finally met her match and got herself killed. Others say that she got tired of being the hero and decided to quit.

"So what's the plan?" said Tsuguo.

Turns out that the Devil merely decided to find a better way to end this injustice for good. She was very secretive about her plan. All he knew was that she had teamed up with Aritomi Haruki to develop the necessary parts needed for her plan.

"I suppose you don't have any problems with slaughtering Child Errors unlike your friend Wataru?" said the Devil.

"I'm different from that coward, but what's the point of killing innocent children?"

"Innocent, yes. But make no mistake, it won't be easy."

"Could you show us a quick demo of what this thing can do?" said Masu.

The Powered Suit lit up and hurled a fist towards the wall about a meter away. Shockwaves shattered the wall into rubble.

"We are going to use this… to kill Child Errors?" said Tsuguo. "Don't you think we might be overdoing it?"

The Devil chuckled, "Like I said, it won't be easy."

Masu frowned, "I still don't see the point of killing Child Errors. Is there something I'm not seeing here?"

"If you succeed," said the Devil. "Big Spider will have the rights to negotiate terms with some very important people. At the very least, you've sent a message to them that Level 0s are not people they should be messing with. Isn't that what Big Spider has been fighting for all along?"

Tsuguo slapped the Devil on the shoulder with a big grin, "God dammit. Still looking out for us Level 0s eh?"

"You'd probably die trying."

"I'm not afraid of death."

"Good."

All of Big Spider had lost someone one way or another because of the darkness in Academy City. It's unfortunate that innocent children had to die, but that was the only way to bring those adults to their knees and teach them a lesson to not mess with Level 0s. No need to be afraid of death when there's nothing left worth living for anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Do you find Misaki disgusting for selling her body for money and benefits? Even if you don't, she finds it disgusting herself. There's a reason why I named this chapter "Prelude To A Tragedy". You'll see in the later chapters.

Speaking of the Devil of Academy City, this was something I kinda ripped off from Stormwolfex's Of Science and Magics. To my surprise, Stormwolfex is actually from the same country as me. I don't know him in real life or anything though.

If you ask me who exactly is the Devil in this story, it's actually pretty obvious.

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. If you have any comments, you may leave them in the review box below. Rajarshi Sarkar, I hope you're happy that I doubled the length this time, haha.

P.S. Happy 15th Index anniversary!


	6. A Glimmer Of Hope

In Academy City, it was mandatory for all enrolled students under the Power Development Program to participate in experiments but they get paid extra on top of their basic allowance depending on the nature of the experiment.

Misaki stepped into a room where a blindfolded and gagged guy was tied up to a chair as he struggled to break free. What sort of experiment would it be this time? So far, she had only participated in experiments with willing volunteers. This guy was definitely not a willing volunteer.

"How much I'm getting paid this time?" said Misaki.

Her Power Development mentor was a talking golden retriever named Kihara Noukan. The same Kihara Noukan who did the Power Development operation for her by controlling a human body like it was just another tool for the operation. And to think she had actually attempted to seduce a dog. Ugh.

"One million yen," said Noukan.

"What do you want me to do?"

Noukan said that from the data he collected from her previous experiments, he noticed that her ability works by controlling the secretion of chemicals in the target's brain. Today's experiment was to see if she could use that knowledge to permanently damage the target's brain instead.

"Can't you just use a realistic simulation of a human brain instead? I thought Academy City was supposed to have technology 30 years ahead of the world," said Misaki.

"If you wish to use your ability on people, there's no other thing better than practicing against an actual human."

"Is he some kind of criminal sentenced to death? A rapist, maybe?"

"His only crime is that he tried to sabotage an ongoing experiment. I don't blame him though. He was just trying to save his friend."

Just like Mom, huh?

She couldn't bring herself to kill someone who tried to play the hero like her mother. If she killed that guy, she would be no different from the horrible people who killed her mother for trying to save her.

"Maybe we can do the experiment on someone who deserve to die."

"I'll be frank with you. The Devil approached me a few days ago and offered me video evidence of you engaging in prostitution in exchange for-"

"You accepted her offer?"

Misaki clenched her fists as her body went numb with shock and anger. Why does her past keep coming back to haunt her?! Why was that Devil being such a fucking horrible person who would screw over anyone for her own selfish reasons?! Why, why, why? Why?!

Noukan lit up a cigar with his metallic extensions before casually pointing his nose at the blindfolded and gagged guy, "No. Consider it as a gesture of goodwill."

Misaki took a deep breath and placed her hand on the guy. Don't cry. No need to feel any guilt for people who don't matter. The message was clear. If she doesn't want to be blackmailed, then go along with his experiments without any questions. It was still blackmail in a way, but at least he was kind enough not to hold onto that shameful video of herself.

If what Noukan said about her ability was true, then damaging the brain could be as simple as sucking out all the moisture from it. The guy went limp instantly. Metallic extensions sprang out of Noukan and measured his brainwave activity to be zero. The experiment was a success.

"I take it that you're not going to tell me anything else about the Devil?" said Misaki.

"To illustrate how I can control you using that video, she did tell me something about you, and about that boy you like."

Misaki curled her lips in disgust. That Devil was a fucking psychopath, but she was in no position to judge when she had just murdered someone for her own selfish reasons.

"What exactly did she tell you?"

"You... have value beyond your looks. I sincerely hope you can see that someday."

Noukan left the room. How he said those words with his deep, warm voice made her sick to the stomach. He may be a dog, but he was a dog augmented with the intelligence of a middle-aged man and she had been traumatized by them far too much.

Men are shallow creatures. They only care about looks! Touma can pretend all he wants, but he was no exception as well.

* * *

Touma found it unusual that Misaki would send a provocative picture of herself seated with her legs spread wide apart after lunch. Thank god she made sure her skirt was covering her panties. Was it even normal for girls around Misaki's age to send such pictures so casually all the time?

_Do you want to see more? (๑•́ ω •̀๑) texted Misaki._

"Well, I'd love to see more but Sleepyhead would destroy me if she ever finds out," said Shiage before letting out a sigh.

"I swear to god the only thing you'll be seeing are stars," said Touma.

"Even her panties have stars on them?"

Touma raised a fist. It irked him to know that if it was any other guy Misaki met at the church when she was alone and vulnerable, he might have manipulated her to send nudes instead. He was not a psychologist nor a mind reader, but her sending provocative pictures from time to time was definitely unhealthy. No one walks out of a sexually abusive situation undamaged in any way. If Seria-nee was here, she'd know what to do.

Shiage smiled sheepishly, "My bad, I shouldn't have said those things to your girl."

"She's not exactly my-"

"Any idea what's her secret to her gorgeous skin? Maika has been complaining about her skin recently," said Motoharu.

"I could ask her if you want," said Touma.

There was a rumor saying that he was in an official relationship with Misaki. He could not deny it without hurting Misaki. She has been hurt far too long that one more heartbreak would be too cruel, even for someone as strong as her.

Touma replied to Misaki's text. _Motoharu would like to know what skin care product you use. It's for his younger sister._

_Ugh. Tell that slimebag to go to hell._

"That's harsh," said Motoharu.

"What did you do for her to hate you that much?" said Shiage.

"I have no idea. You have any idea why, Touma?"

Touma patted Motoharu on his shoulder, "Ever considered ditching those sunglasses?"

"I'm not going to let the shallowness of one girl change my look."

Misaki sent another text.

_By the way, if that slimeball is REALLY asking for his sister, I am using Estée Lauder Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Creme. It's 120,000 yen for a small bottle, but you can't scrimp on beauty._

Touma walked into the classroom and a bucket of water from above fell onto him. Rotten luck.

"Taking one for the team as always, Kami-yan," said Motoharu. It was now his turn to give him a pat on his drenched shoulder.

Banri chided Keizo for playing such a stupid prank which was supposed to be meant for their form teacher Miss Kiyama.

"Don't worry, I'm okay," said Touma.

Ever since he transferred into this class, he found himself an unintentional target for all of their pranks. Even Miss Kiyama felt bad enough to apologize when she arrived soon after.

Shiage said he had a spare set of clothes so Touma headed back to his dorm room.

It was hard to tell if Yuriko was a guy or girl just from appearances alone, but Touma was now a hundred percent sure that Yuriko was a girl. Even though Yuriko was completely naked, she didn't seem flustered at all.

"Sorry about that. I didn't expect you to return at this timing," said Yuriko as she wiped her hair dry with a towel. "I was too lazy to head back to my own apartment so I decided to use your room for a quick shower."

"Are... you really fine with me seeing you naked?"

This was weird. Why was he the one being flustered instead of Yuriko? In the process of learning how to control her powers, did she somehow cultivate a calm mind that would put even the best zen master to shame?

Yuriko laughed before putting on her clothes, "Is this your first time seeing a girl naked in person?"

"I've seen girls completely naked many times by accident but don't tell Misaki. She'll kill me through sheer jealousy if she ever finds out. You're the first girl who hasn't thrown something at me while screaming at the top of their voice though."

Touma left the room with Yuriko after changing into Shiage's spare set of clothes.

"Are you two really a couple like what everyone in class is saying?" said Yuriko. "I mean you and Misaki of course."

"We're just close friends, I think."

"She really likes you more than just a friend. You know that, right?"

"Kind of."

It was actually super obvious that Misaki likes him more than just a friend, but it was also super obvious why. She might think what she's feeling is love when actually she was afraid to be alone again.

Touma grabbed Yuriko with his right hand and pulled her away from a soccer ball that crashed through the window beside them.

"What just happened?" said Yuriko.

"You almost got hit by a soccer ball."

"Oh… thank you."

She decided to hold his right hand for the rest of the journey back to class just in case. Hopefully she would be able to change the way her power works and not have to worry about accidentally killing people ever again like him someday.

"Are you alright?" said Touma.

Yuriko's face was flushed red and she looked so jittery like she was holding hands with her new boyfriend for the very first time. Girls don't just fall in love just from holding hands right? Maybe he was just thinking too much. She was someone who could laugh off an embarrassing accident after all. Why would holding hands be embarrassing if she didn't mind him seeing her naked?

"Just a little uncomfortable without my barrier. Don't worry about me."

Rikou stepped out from the washroom and stopped sucking on her lollipop when she saw him holding hands with Yuriko, "Congratulations?"

"It's not what you think it is!" said Yuriko, face red with embarrassment.

"Misaki was your friend. And why is your face so red?"

"Because you're making things weird. There's nothing between us."

Rikou smiled.

Touma did not have a good feeling about what was going to happen next.

* * *

Misaki took a picture with Touma while holding his hands in front of a convenience store. Obtaining permission to skip that boring Academic Assembly tour was easy for her since she had exceeded expectations according to Noukan, but for Touma it was a lengthy battle that she almost lost. It was Rikou who thought of this wonderful idea, so of course she had her ways to turn the tide by uniting everyone against the 'unfaithful' boy named Kamijou Touma who had his eyes on Yuriko. Touma had no choice but to agree to go on an official date with her if he didn't want to incur the wrath of two classes.

Misaki pointed to an ad for a luxurious hotel located in District 3, "Would you like me to help you… unwind? I shouldn't be the only one enjoying this date."

"The buffet looks good. Hey, there's even unlimited dessert."

"We can have buffet after that. It's not good to engage in physical activities on a full stomach, if you get what I mean."

Touma fell silent. He knew what she meant and was clearly uncomfortable at the thought of doing it. Was he nervous? Or was he disgusted at her behaving like a slut? What the hell was she thinking anyway? He was different from the other disgusting men.

Misaki went to get ice cream at a park as an apology for going too far. When she returned, she saw Touma arguing with that brown-haired girl Misaka Mikoto about something.

Misaki walked up to them with a smile, "How about some ice cream to cool down?"

"You should see a therapist," said Mikoto.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Whatever you've been through, you're going to need someone qualified enough to help undo the damage done to you. Trust me, it's not a bad idea-"

"Get lost. Now."

Mikoto threw a sympathetic glance at her before she left the park. What a bitch. Things were going great until she had to appear and ruin everything.

"Maybe seeing a therapist isn't such a bad idea," said Touma.

"No."

"I mean-"

"No!"

Misaki glared at him with tears welling in her eyes. What was wrong with pretending that nothing in her past actually happened? Why won't anyone just leave her past the fuck alone like Yuriko?!

Touma sighed, as if he was giving in to the tantrum of a child, "Alright, let's just drop this issue for now."

Playing the mature adult now? Let's see how mature will you be later.

* * *

Misaki stepped out of a changing room in the swimwear area of a department store. She was wearing a white bikini, which ironically gave off the impression of a pure maiden when she was anything but that.

"What do you think?" said Misaki.

"Great."

Why was this mature adult acting so flustered over a girl in a bikini like an innocent schoolboy? Not so mature now huh?

Misaki pulled Touma into the changing room.

"What are-"

She put a finger on his lips as she used her thigh to tease his crotch to get him into the mood. It was satisfying to see him squirm.

Misaki leaned close, her mouth by his ear. She could feel his cock already rock hard from her teasing and giggled. He was still a guy after all.

"If you promise not to force me to see a therapist, I'll let you do whatever you want to me anytime. In private of course. Wouldn't want Judgement arrest us for public indecency."

Touma flashed a scowl.

"Aww, what's wrong? Need a... hand?" said Misaki.

Her usual tactics to make things go her way probably wouldn't work on Touma, but that was all she knew. At least, that was all she had to do. Maybe she thought that Touma wasn't so different after all, or maybe she was so sure that Touma wouldn't take advantage of her no matter what. Yeah, she was a fucking mess, but there was no need for a therapist. No need for one more people to know.

"I'm sorry if what I did made you upset. I just don't like the idea of seeing a therapist. Can't we just pretend that nothing ever happened?"

Touma gave her a hug, "Then let me be your therapist. If there's anything troubling you, tell me. Give me a chance to help you."

Could she really trust him about the one thing that was bothering her? If he ever knew that she sold her body for money, could he really look at her the same way again?

"Okay, but you have to promise me to never consider getting me a therapist ever again. Also, no talking to anyone about getting me a therapist."

If he could keep that promise, maybe she could trust him with that secret.

"I promise."

Misaki put on her clothes and left the changing room with her pinky around Touma's pinky. Surely he would prove her wrong again. That he was someone she could trust.

* * *

Yuriko found the Academic Assembly lectures boring. The speaker kept on droning on and on about the same point. Yes, a minimum intelligence of a 5 year old is needed for someone to become an esper in this city. There was no need to repeat that over and over again. Everyone wanted to skip the Academic Assembly and it was a miracle that Rikou managed to convince everyone to let Touma go out on a date with Misaki while they sit here in misery.

She turned to see Rikou sleeping soundly at Shiage's lap. Would she be able to find true love just like them someday? Maybe true love was pushing it. A close friend like Rikou would be good enough. Oh no, why was Touma the first guy that came to mind as a potential romantic partner? Holding hands doesn't mean anything!

Yuriko slammed a fist on the left chair arm and shattered it to pieces.

Rikou sprung up from her sweet slumber.

"I'm so sorry-"

"He's here," said Rikou.

It was Aritomi Haruki's turn to start speaking. Rikou also had the ability to track AIM fields, so when any AIM field memorized by Rikou comes into a certain range, she'll know immediately.

"Say the word Yuriko, and I'll make sure that loser walks out in tears," said Rikou.

Yuusuke and Michio raised their lunch boxes, "There's no need to show any mercy. Finish him."

"Let's just sit through the whole thing in peace."

The concerned looks of her classmates that she might destroy the hall next was embarrassing enough already. No need to start another shitstorm involving her. Honestly, it was no surprise that were people like Haruki who hated her. After all, she was a monster who accidentally killed people because she lost control over her powers.

Their PE teacher and also an Anti-Skill officer Yomikawa Aiho asked to speak to her and Rikou in private outside the hall.

Seventh Mist was under lockdown because of a terrorist for reasons yet unknown. They were also unable to establish communications with anyone inside and so they had no knowledge about the situation. The only person powerful enough to sneak in, handle any possible threats and currently available was her.

"I.. I might end up killing people by accident again."

"But this is your chance to become something more," said Rikou.

"I don't know. I-"

"I'm not expecting you to do this alone," said Aiho. "But I want you to be prepared that if things go to shit and trust me most of the time it will, you may need to use your powers in ways that exceed what you're comfortable with."

"There's nothing to be worried about. I'll be here with you," said Rikou.

Yuriko nodded with a sigh. This time, nobody gets hurt. Everyone comes home safely.

* * *

Misaki was one of the unfortunate souls stuck inside a fashion boutique with Touma. Seventh Mist was on lockdown, so no one could leave the mall. There were espers who tried to break through the shutters using their powers, but bombs appeared out of thin air and killed everyone who tried to escape.

"Do you now know how it feels like for us for Level 0s?" said a male voice from the mall's PA system. "Everyday we live in fear of being targeted randomly by those who sees us as nothing but worthless trash!"

"That's not a fucking excuse to kill people," hissed Touma.

Misaki hugged Touma's arm, "Are you going to condemn him to death like everyone else?"

That guy wasn't exactly wrong. Level 0s were being targeted by scientists in need of a test subject for their sick experiments. She even killed a Level 0 who was trying to save a friend from becoming another victim.

"I have no right to judge him. I'm just pissed that he killed a bunch of innocent people."

If he had access to the PA system, he probably has access to all cameras in the mall. Also he somehow figured out every possible escape route and would teleport bombs to anyone who tried passing through those routes. Which was why all she could do was pray someone from the outside world could reach this improvised radio set built by Tsuchimikado Maika. Turns out that slimebag does have a sister who was worried about her skin. Luckily, all Maika needed was 120,000 yen to get a better skin moisturizer.

There was a small crackle before a familiar voice popped out of the radio set.

"If you can hear me, tell us what's going on right now?" said the voice.

Misaki picked up her smartphone which acted as the walkie talkie, "Yuriko?"

"Don't worry, this will be over soon," said Yuriko.

Yuriko was here with Rikou in a specialized Powered Suit hidden underneath the guy behind Seventh Mist's lockdown and the deaths of countless people. He had somehow materialized a giant AIM field which gave him control over the PA system and all the cameras in the mall. Using that giant AIM field, he could also detect the location of other AIM fields and use that knowledge to accurately teleport bombs. Since it was too dangerous to face that guy directly, the only way to stop him was for Rikou to use her ability to destabilize that giant AIM field which will most likely kill him in the process.

"It doesn't have to be this way," said Touma.

"What do you mean by that?" said Yuriko.

"Let me try to talk him into surrendering first. I have a right hand that can negate AIM fields. That should count for something."

Misaki trembled with fear, "Why can't you be like everyone else? He's a murderer. He deserves to die anyway."

What if this was the last time she ever saw him? A world without Touma would be too painful to live for. Just the thought alone was almost enough to bring her to tears.

Touma gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. Come on, this doesn't make things magically alright!

"I promise I'll make it back alive," said Touma.

"If you break this promise, I swear I'll feed your corpse to the dog so you better stay alive."

Touma laughed her threat off like it was some kind of a silly joke. His smile and confidence made her feel safe and warm, almost like he was hugging her again. Even if he knows the truth, this happiness would still remain between them, won't it?

* * *

Body parts drenched in blood were scattered about the basement floor of Seventh Mist. Touma was once a murderer, so he had no right to judge the guy who stood defiant despite his evil actions. The guy was Daigo Shuichi, a Level 1 Teleporter. His motive was still unknown.

"What could you possibly gain from all this?" said Touma. At this point, his motive doesn't really matter anymore. "Listen, Anti-Skill has found a way to end your life right here right now. If you still want to live, drop your giant AIM field and come with me."

Shuichi smirked, "Do you not see just how fucked up this city is? Everything I've done is just an experiment the Devil wanted me to conduct in exchange for the freedom of my friend."

"I'm sure we can work something out to save your friend."

"My friend is already safe."

Multiple bombs appeared from above.

"No!"

"And I will continue to keep him safe!"

The bombs disappeared as Shuichi collapsed with blood oozing out of his eyes, ears, and nose.

Touma let out a long sigh. He was a pathetic fool who thought he could finally do something good after all the bad. Turns out he was just as powerless as before, like the time when he could only watch a speeding car ignore the green light and brutally murder a young couple who helped him up just minutes ago. He held back his tears because Yuriko and Rikou with a squadron of Anti-Skill officers had already arrived on the scene.

"You alright?" said Yuriko.

Touma chuckled, "Yeah. I just didn't expect such an... anticlimactic ending."

"You did your best."

Rikou offered him a lollipop. If the foul stench of death and blood was bothering her, she was doing an excellent job concealing it with her poker face.

"Welcome to Academy City. A city where ethics can go screw themselves all in the pursuit of science."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I have rewritten the first 5 chapters, so do check it out if you haven't.

Well, I didn't expect myself to be able to update that quickly, but I did finish my outline ahead of schedule so it was really a matter of translating garbage into something readable. I still have exams coming up in about a month, so I can't promise weekly updates or anything despite me being done with an outline.

As for this chapter, the focus was really on giving Misaki some hope, that she could trust Touma enough to tell him her darkest secret. I know some of you might feel disappointed that Touma didn't choose to have sex with Misaki in the changing room, but I'm sure more of you would be disappointed if I actually make Touma OOC (at least in this story) just to make that happen.

The last scene might seem rather anti-climatic even though it was logical in my opinion that as soon as Shuichi does something stupid, Rikou would have no choice but to kill him to protect Touma. Anyway, more details about the experiment would be revealed next chapter.

And as for NT22R, all I can say is that I appreciated how Misaki's personality got expanded on through her decision to support the false Touma who remembered her rather than the real Touma who would never remember her. It was also interesting to see a different side of Touma. Never knew Touma could be that cold. Overall, I liked this volume because of how it made me understand Misaki and Touma as a character better.

Lastly, hope you liked this chapter and if you have any comments do leave a review below :)


	7. A Step Away From Hope

**Author's Note: **

I normally don't do author's notes at the start of a chapter, but I felt that it was important enough to place what I wanted to say here. It's mainly a response to the questions that Rajarshi Sarkar's review raised that I wanted to share with everyone.

Traumatic events such as rape usually changes people for the worse. It is inevitable that Misaki will be OOC in some ways. The fact that Misaki could still function as a normal person (mostly) is a testament to her willpower. Anyway, it doesn't make sense for Misaki to trust Touma that easily with regards to her past. In the first place, it was Touma who found out on his own about Misaki being sexually abused in this story. Misaki never once decided on her own to tell Touma that yes, something really bad happened to her. Trust needs to be earned and Touma just saving Misaki from a bad situation isn't enough for her to trust him fully.

P.S. If you look hard enough, Misaki does trust Touma in many ways. She just doesn't trust him fully.

As for the Mirage storyline, yes it is obviously more catchy compared to this story. This isn't exactly a... fun story like Bust Upper or something. I wrote this story because I wanted to write something different than the usual fanfiction stories you see here, that's all.

Lastly, to all of the readers who have been following me through this story so far, thank you. It is because of you guys that makes writing this story a little less lonelier.

* * *

Touma leaned against the corridor with a look of defeat on his face. The classroom right in front of him were filled with students gushing over Rikou and Yuriko, the two heroines who saved the day.

Misaki didn't know how best to comfort him without resorting to anything sexual. If she didn't want a therapist, then she better start acting like someone who doesn't need one. A part of her was relieved that the terrorist simply dropped dead in front of him, but she also didn't want to see him in pain from not being able to do anything for that terrorist.

"You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved," said Misaki.

"I know that."

"Then stop blaming yourself."

"Of course I know that!"

Misaki jumped when Touma slammed his fist on the wall. She had never seen him so upset before. Maybe she shouldn't have stated the obvious, but the only other alternative she could think of to make him feel better was to drag him to the washroom and give him a blowjob which is obviously a terrible idea if she didn't want to be forced to see a therapist.

Touma sighed, "I'm sorry, I just-"

"It's okay."

"Hey Kamiyan," said Motoharu with his stupid shit-eating grin. "Upset that your girlfriend didn't send you a sexy picture today?"

Does he even know how stupid he sounds saying that? Just when she thought of him less of a slimebag, he just had to prove her wrong for doing so.

"It's none of your business. Just leave us alone," said Misaki.

"You sure about that?"

The slimebag handed her an invitation to an event in the School Garden. The School Garden was an area composed of five elite all-girls schools but most importantly, this was an area where the finest sweets could be found.

Misaki eyed the slimebag suspiciously as she opened the invitation. The event was to celebrate the 170th anniversary of Odette, a pastry shop that specializes in cream puffs. The true value of the invitation however, was access to the outer areas of the School Garden which anyone regardless of gender can visit as long as they have an invitation to any of the shops there.

"Is there something you want from me?"

The slimebag burst out laughing. What was so funny anyway? God, if only she could just punch him in the face.

"Maika just wanted to thank you for recommending such an excellent skincare product. That's all."

How thoughtful of Maika. The invitation even allowed for one other person to tag along. She should be the one thanking Maika for building that improvised radio back at the mall.

Sorry slimebag, but I totally would have sent you a bikini picture of myself if it wasn't for Touma wanting to get me a therapist. On second thought, maybe you should just eat shit in hell.

* * *

Stepping into the School Garden was like stepping into another country where traditional buildings commonly seen in European fairy tales stood tall and proud with wrought metal lamps as the face of the School Garden. This was the only area in the School Garden where both genders are allowed inside if they have an invitation.

Touma sat at the fountain with Misaki after a three hour queue at La Creperie just for a strawberry crepes. It would have been two strawberry crepes, but misfortune never fails to strike. Misaki grabbed the last available crepes and the shop decided to close for the day.

He wiped a stain from the corner of Misaki's lips.

Misaki smiled before continuing to nibble on her crepes. It was a beautiful smile that made him feel like a complete jerk for losing his temper at her this morning.

"Could I have a bite?" said Touma.

Misaki pouted and hugged her crepes close like a small cat protecting her treasure from the evil demon lord, "Go away."

"Come on, one bite wouldn't hurt."

"Go queue for a different dessert if you want. Leave my crepes alone."

And conveniently get nothing again after a three hour queue? Give me a break. What was so special anyway about the dessert shops in School Garden that there were long queues in all of the shops?!

Misaki pinched off a small piece from her crepes, "Since I'm in a good mood, I shall-"

A beach ball knocked into Misaki and the small piece fell to the ground. A grown man hastily apologized to her before leaving with his beach ball. Why would anyone bring a beach ball to a place selling desserts? This was no coincidence. This was his misfortune telling him to dream on. He will never get a chance to taste the finest dessert in Academy City.

"I swear, this was just an accident."

Misaki shook her head, "I made a mistake. I won't make the same mistake again."

"At least tell me how it tastes like."

"Like strawberries?"

"Thank you, that was really helpful."

"What were you expecting, fried chicken?"

"It's strawberry crepes of course it's going to taste like strawberry. How about something more descriptive than strawberry?"

"Which is exactly what I just said. It tastes like strawberry. What more do you want?"

It was nice when she wasn't trying to twist whatever she could into something sexual. Just like the old Misaki he just met at the church. Maybe from the start she never could let go of the fact that he knew about that shameful part of her past.

A little girl with silver braided hair came up to them in tears, "My Gekota doll has been kidnapped. Could you help me find it?"

Misaki patted the girl's head, "There, there. Everything will be okay."

The little girl named Junko made the mistake of leaving her Gekota doll unattended for a short while. The only clue that the thief left behind was a crudely drawn map of where he or she hid the doll. Junko didn't have much luck finding anyone else to help because the doll was hidden somewhere within the forbidden areas of the School Garden.

Misaki ran some calculations with her smartphone, "Don't worry Junko, we'll get your awesome Gekota doll back."

"Wait a minute, are you seriously planning to evade 2400 cameras and close to 300 espers within the premises just for a Gekota doll?" said Touma.

"We have a map, so that reduces it to about 100 or so cameras and a few dozen espers. But yeah, I'm serious."

"We can get someone else who might be in a better position to help."

"Stay here, and don't go anywhere else alright?" said Misaki to Junko.

Junko nodded with a smile and sat at the fountain. As much as he wanted to help Junko, but it just makes no sense that it has to be him or Misaki when they could find someone authorized to enter the School Garden and get the doll back for Junko instead.

Touma pulled Misaki aside behind a tree where Junko wouldn't be able to see them, "You're fucking nuts!"

"Am I? Then why did you risk your life to face that bomber yesterday?"

"Because I wanted to save his life. You? Because of a stupid doll-"

Misaki slapped Touma, "She needed help. Isn't that enough of a reason to reach out? If it was just a stupid doll, then why was she crying as if it was her parents who got kidnapped? I'm not expecting you to help anyway, so just leave me alone!"

Touma's expression softened as he gently cupped his hand on her face, "I just don't get why does it have to be you?"

"Because I'm in a position to help. That's all."

"Let's go."

Misaki was right. Someone was in need of help, and they had the means to help. That was enough of a reason.

* * *

Touma sprinted through a large hole in a wall after Misaki was done with disabling the nearby cameras into an alley. The only thing large enough to hide himself completely was a rusty trash can that smelled like rotting sardines mixed with a little feces and urine. What in the world were those wealthy, high-class female students throwing into their trash cans?

He held his breath and put the trash can over himself. The first phase of their plan was to wait for a lone student to wander into this alley and then Misaki would knock her unconscious and put on her uniform. It was impressive how she came up with a decent plan just from a crudely drawn map with squares, circles and crosses.

Misfortune stretched out one moment into a thousand more, making sure that he Kamijou Touma would experience the maximum amount of suffering without dying. Jumping off a building was better compared to this. At least he had fresh air and the thrill of gravity pulling him down at unimaginable speeds.

Touma heard a tap and emerged from the trash can to see Misaki in a white collared shirt with a brown vest over it while the unconscious girl lying at the corner was wearing Misaki's clothes. It was apparently a school uniform from Tokiwadai Middle School. All that was left was to cross over to another alley from the main road before they split up.

"I thought Academy City's technology was thirty years ahead of the world. How did you learn how to hack into their technology in less than a month?" said Touma.

"Oh, from an expensive online course by Antonio Katze."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why are you looking at me so weirdly? Is there something on my face?"

Does she not realize just how incredible it was to reach the same level as a professional just from watching videos within such a short amount of time? Was it the stars in her eyes that gave her such a terrifying intellect?

Three girls from another school emerged from the alley they wanted to enter. Rotten luck.

"What is the meaning of this?" said the girl with a ponytail confused and angry.

Misaki hugged his arm with a grin, "Just showing Darling around, do you have a problem with that?"

Another girl was horrified upon seeing Misaki holding his hand. "We have to be careful. I heard that you can get pregnant just from holding the hands of a guy!"

The other two girls went pale as they picked up their phones with trembling hands, "We have to warn the others."

Misaki covered her mouth, trying her best not to burst into laughter. Did those three ignorant girls just say that in front of someone who knew how babies are really formed? If Misaki could laugh at her own trauma, then maybe he should stop being so... uptight anymore.

"You Shidarezakura girls are pathetic losers who has never stepped outside into the real world. Get out of our way before I ask Darling to impregnate all of you."

The three girls scattered off like rats. It won't be long before everyone in the School Garden knows about him. The plan now was for him to be bait to attract everyone's attention to him while Misaki quietly search for the Gekota doll.

Misaki kissed him on the cheek, "I'm so proud of you. I really am."

"Easy for you to say that when you're not the one about to be labelled as the most perverted guy in Academy City."

"You know, although I keep tempting you into having sex with me, the truth is… I can't go any further than a blowjob. Anyway, well… uh... thanks for being a gentleman till the very end."

"Don't worry, I have my hands after all. That's good enough for me."

She looked at him incredulously before she broke into laughter, "I'm sure you'll change your mind after having a go at it with my hands instead," and then she ran off laughing again like a hysterical school girl who had just heard a dirty joke for the first time in her life. He definitely sounded like an idiot. This was the last time he was ever going to say something stupid like that.

A group of girls armed with makeshift weapons like baseball bats and tennis rackets appeared from both ends of the road. They were faster than he thought, but why were all of them so shocked upon seeing him?

A girl with ringlet curls in a yellow maid outfit descended from the rooftop, "Gekota doll?"

"Yeah."

Touma readied himself for a brawl against the group on one side while the girl was facing the other side. She was a maid trainee from the same school as Maika currently attending extra classes in the School Garden. This whole thing was just a prank done by a bored clique who wanted to ruin Junko's day. The map was also probably a fake but that doesn't matter anymore now that the maid trainee had already passed the Gekota doll to Misaki. If the maid trainee was willing to piss off a bored clique with influential parents for a little girl she never met before, then he had no reason to complain anymore.

"I definitely miss the days when all we had to worry about was just Seria-nee ruining our fun in the park."

Why was this maid trainee talking to him like- Wait a minute… it can't be her, right? He almost couldn't recognize her because of her outlandish curls.

"Maria?"

"We can catch up later after we deal with those entitled brats."

Touma raised his arm against a baseball bat and then hurled a girl towards a shophouse window. Fuck, that swing really hurt. Are they all really that naive to think that numbers alone are enough? If numbers were enough, the angry mobs outside Academy City would have succeeded in killing him a long time ago.

"Anzu, Koemi, Sakiko. Formation B!" said a girl with a hockey stick.

He negated an onslaught of icicles from one girl while the other two girls looked at him in disbelief.

A vine whip wrapped around Maria's wrist. She yanked the whip towards herself and knocked the owner unconscious with a fist. Glad to see that she could hold her own in a fight. Maid school must have whipped her lazy ass into shape.

Touma pressed his back against Maria as the group menacingly advanced from both ends. More girls poured in from the alleyways.

"Getting sleepy already?" said Maria.

"I haven't even finished warming up."

The girl who introduced herself as Hirose Ayumi slammed her hockey stick down. The group stopped advancing and raised their makeshift weapons at them.

Touma heaved a sigh of relief. Just because he could take them all on doesn't mean he should. He had no intention of bathing the School Garden in red and get himself locked up in prison for years.

"It's not the doll that upset me, but how you seem to think that you could ruin my fun and get away with it," said Ayumi.

A girl pulled Ayumi back, "Be careful. This guy seem to have some sort of an ability negating power."

Ayumi shrugged off the girl's concern with an eye roll and then slammed the hockey stick across his head, "By the way, I'm impressed you actually made it through the security cameras, you sick fuck. The School Garden isn't an all you can eat buffet for your perverted desires."

"I'm sorry but I don't eat garbage."

Another blow to his head.

Maria frantically whipped out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding, "Holy shit! Are you alright?"

"I'm okay."

Touma felt a vibration and took out his phone to show a picture of Misaki and Junko with the Gekota doll.

Ayumi trembled in anger, "Kumokawa Maria! How dare you!"

"If you think ruining an innocent girl's day is just a harmless prank," said Touma as he clenched his right fist, "then let me first correct that fucked up delusion of yours!"

He swatted away the hockey stick with his left arm and rammed his right fist into her face.

* * *

Maria laughed and laughed until there were tears leaking from the corner of her eyes as they sat inside an Anti-Skill armored van handcuffed.

Touma sighed. This was the second time he was being laughed at for looking like an idiot. The first time was a stupid dirty joke so that was understandable, but punching a bully in the face while spouting a pretty cool speech? Come on, it can't be that funny.

"I can't believe you," said Maria before laughing again. "Hero and the Demon Lord? I'm sorry, I just can't."

Maria used to play Hero and Demon Lord with him a lot at the park where he would play the Hero and Maria the Demon Lord. Maria was so good that she never failed to knock away his toy sword. In the end, he had no choice but to use his fist to deliver the final blow while spouting a cool speech because that was what the heroes in TV would do. Meanwhile, Seria-nee was desperately trying to keep him and Maria from accidentally killing each other.

But that came to an abrupt end one day when his right hand cursed their father with misfortune.

Touma sighed, "Hey, I know this apology is long overdue, but I'm sorry about what happened to your father."

Maria's expression shifted awkwardly as she tried to maintain a smile, "It's not your fault. He was involved in a lot of shady activities not even your father knew about and it was only a matter of time before he got himself killed. We went into hiding to avoid my father's enemies, not because we hated you."

"I wouldn't blame you if you did."

Since he had apologized to Maria already, he should stop running away and properly apologize to Seria-nee face to face.

"By the way, where's Seria-nee?"

"All I know is that she's in this city, hiding."

"From who?"

"I wish I knew."

Touma chuckled. The answer was simple. Seria-nee must have hated him so much that she went into hiding or refused to come out of hiding as soon as he entered the city.

* * *

Katagiri Yukika was lying prone at a rooftop as she adjusted her aim at her target, Takitsubo Rikou. Rikou was making this too easy for her by walking through a relatively empty area. Maybe she'll just observe Rikou for a little while more before pressing the trigger. The organization she worked for was probably the only organization who hated the Kiharas so much that they were willing to screw over them no matter what the cost.

Rikou sprinted into an alleyway. It's fine. That alleyway only leads to a single exit into a crowded plaza.

Yukika descended from the rooftop with a grappling hook and headed for that plaza. As expected, Rikou was there trying to make use of the crowd to shield herself from any possible attacks. So what if AIM Stalker allowed Rikou to know her exact location? That was all Rikou knew. She had no idea how just by moving predictably, she had already lost.

Yukika fired a shot from her sleeve by flicking her wrist upwards and clicked her tongue. The shot somehow ended up grazing Rikou's arm instead of going through her head. Fuck, it's so hard to aim accurately in a crowd.

A blonde-haired guy was calling for Rikou. It was Hamazura Shiage. There was another guy beside Shiage. A black, spiky-haired guy… Kamijou Touma?

Yukika froze. This was definitely the same monster that cursed people with misfortune just by touching them. Countless have died because of him and more will die if she doesn't do anything right now!

She emptied every shot she had left on Touma, hurled a grenade from her utility belt and hid behind a pillar. Wait, why was there no explosion?

Yukika realized that in her haste to kill Touma, she mistook her present for Koemi as the grenade. Fuck, Yuriko was here already. She was another monster like Touma. Just a different kind of monster who could take over Academy City if she wasn't such a pussy in using her powers.

She sneaked into the washroom at a convenience store and took out her disposable flip phone to answer a call.

"I hired you to kill Takitsubo Rikou, not Kamijou Touma," said an artificial sounding female voice who calls herself the Devil.

"You don't understand. Kamijou Touma is a menace who will curse everyone with misfortune if left alive."

The Devil sighed, "You live in a city of science and you still believe that superstitious bullshit?"

"Have you watched Final Destination? I've seen how people died in much worse ways than in the movie right after being touched by him! He-"

"Enough. If you let Kamijou Touma compromise your mission again, I will kill you myself and then hire a better replacement."

Fine. It was time to get serious and not play around with Rikou anymore.

* * *

Misaki sipped chardonnay wine on a reclining sofa. Today's experiment was about extracting memories from someone's brain and it was taking damm too long to finish.

Things were going great. Touma started to loosen up a little and cracked a silly dirty joke in response to her serious confession. She even met his childhood friend Kumokawa Maria who happened to be the one that gave her Junko's Gekota doll and she also got both of them off from all criminal charges by pulling some strings. It was ridiculous how not long after Touma had his head bashed by a hockey stick at the School Garden, he was shot seven times by a hired killer who was initially targeting Rikou until he or she decided that Touma should be the target instead. Or were they both targets from the start?

"The next phase of the experiment will start in about five mintues," said Noukan, the asshole golden retriever who refused to let her visit Touma at the hospital until she completes the experiment.

"Do you have any idea who was behind the attack on Touma and Rikou?"

"If my sources are right, Katagiri Yukika."

Katagiri Yukika was a student in the School Garden on the surface, but she secretly had ties with the Katze Industries, an American corporation that single-handedly kept the US competitive enough to rival Academy City in terms of military technology. However, she was just a small fry who takes on odd jobs from the Katze Industries. Whoever hired Yukika must be on a tight budget.

Noukan poured himself a glass of chardonnay wine, "If you achieve a good score in the next phase, I can get rid of Katagiri Yukika for you as a reward."

"That won't be necessary."

Killing may be a solution, but it isn't a solution for everything. At least gather enough information first before making a judgement.

* * *

The only way to prove that it was indeed Katagiri Yukika who shot Touma was for Rikou to use her ability, but convincing Rikou to leave her room was proving to be quite the challenge.

"Instead of hiding, I say we bring the fight to whoever's behind this," said Misaki.

Rikou was someone who took down a strange network of AIM fields known as Diffusion Ghost without breaking a sweat. Diffusion Ghost was how the terrorist at the mall could teleport bombs to people over a large range. The person behind Diffusion Ghost wasn't going to let Rikou off that easily. A hired killer like Yukika was just the beginning.

"I don't know. Shiage told me to lay low for now."

"We're just going to confirm if it's Katagiri Yukika who shot you, that's all. And if it's really her, we can then figure out who's the one really after you."

After a long period of silence, Rikou nodded.

They walked past an empty security post at the ground level that was supposed to stop any student from leaving the building after 7pm. It has been empty since the day she moved into the building with Touma for some reason.

Yuriko waved hello with Fatal Kombat 6 in one hand, "Where are you two going so late at night? I was just about to head up to their room for a couple of rounds."

"Haven't you heard about the audition for the upcoming Endymion Space Elevator event? I've registered myself and Rikou for tonight's audition. Wanna join us instead?" said Misaki. Fortunately, she was prepared for such a situation like this. Yuriko would never join them. She's too afraid of her powers accidentally hurting people so she always avoid crowds whenever possible.

Yuriko chuckled in disbelief, "I can see why Misaki would register, but you? That's… interesting."

Rikou flashed a v-shaped sign with her usual poker face, "Prepare yourself for the Ice Queen Idol. The world shall tremble upon her unflinching beauty."

Misaki hugged herself while pretending to shiver, "Wow. I can feel the temperature dropping by a few degrees already. Rikou, we should leave before you freeze the whole building with your unflinching beauty."

"Have fun," said Yuriko as they headed towards an empty street.

Rikou ran her fingers through her hair, "What's the plan now, golden girl? Actually take part in the audition?"

For some reason, being called golden girl struck a nerve with her. It sounded so weird and wrong that she might consider violence if the whole class started calling her that. This must be how Rikou felt being called Sleepyhead everyday.

"Please don't call me golden girl."

"That's what I always tell those idiots in class. But they always call me Sleepyhead anyway. Now you understand how I feel, golden girl."

Misaki let out an exaggerated sigh, "Yet Shiage always seem to be an exception. I wonder why. Could it be that you're..."

"We've been through a lot. So he's allowed to call me that."

The tinge of red on Rikou's face betrayed her. She was clearly in love with Shiage no matter how nonchalant she looked.

Misaki grinned. It was fun to see the normally cool Rikou turn into a blushing tomato. "How did you two meet anyway?"

"It's a long story."

There was a loud bang as Rikou dragged her into an alleyway and took shelter behind a stack of crates.

"She's here," whispered Rikou.

Damm it, Yukika was much faster than she thought. The plan was just to meet someone who could arrange a meeting between them and Yukika. More shots came from in front, as if it was mocking them for being a coward. Was the hired killer even a girl named Katagiri Yukika?

Rikou took out her phone, "I should've asked Yuriko for help from the start. If I don't have the confidence to trust her, then no one else will."

Misaki wondered if she now finally had the confidence to trust Touma with her secret. He has loosened up a little already and wasn't so overly mindful of her traumatic past anymore, but was it enough? Or will it never be enough until she can read his mind and be a hundred percent sure?

Yuriko appeared out of thin air with a vibrating phone, "So what kind of help do you need?"

"You were following us the whole time?"

Turns out that Yuriko can turn invisible by bending the light around her and move without making a sound by floating through the air.

"You aren't fooling anyone with Ice Queen Idol, Rikou. I know you too well."

Rikou flashed a v-shaped sign, "Any chance they might start calling me Ice Queen instead of Sleepyhead?"

Yuriko shrugged her shoulder with a smile, "Maybe if you ditch the tracksuit, who knows?"

"I hate to interrupt, but don't you think finding out who just shot us is more important right now?" said Misaki.

"Right," said Yuriko. "Any idea who might that person be?"

"Katagiri Yukika."

* * *

Yukika was glad she could make it on time to audition for the upcoming Endymion Space Elevator event as an idol singer. The queue was so long that the audition was extended by another two hours.

"What took you so long?" said Koemi.

Yukika scratched her head in embarrassment, "I was so engrossed with practicing that I lost track of time."

"Not up to anything funny again?"

"I swear I was practicing, but… I had a job that needed to be done."

Which she failed miserably because of Kamijou Touma. The flashbacks of him indirectly killing people in such gruesome ways just by touching them still haunt her every now and then, but after seeing him in person again, it had become so frequent that it was starting to affect her work. Killing Takitsubo Rikou was supposed to be her chance to break into the big league where she could ask for at least a six-digit number minimum for her services and now it was all ruined because of that god of pestilence.

Koemi looked off into the distance dreamily, "You should've seen Ayumi when she got her bitch ass face punched by that spiky-haired boy. Gosh, he's so cool and awesome. I wonder if he's single? And what's his name again? Kamijou Touma?"

Yukika covered her mouth in disgust, trying not to puke out her dinner. Academy City may have somehow cured Touma given that none of the girls at the School Garden didn't mysteriously die in horrific ways after being touched by him, but the trauma within her remains. The thought of Koemi acting all lovey-dovey with Touma was definitely going to be the theme of her nightmare tonight.

"Are you alright? Do you need to see the doctor?" said Koemi.

"I'm just nervous for the audition, that's all."

"Don't be. It's not like they're going to pick you anyway."

Yukika unleashed her tickle assault upon this rude little girl, "How dare you!"

Koemi tried blocking but she was too slow. Out of desperation, she tackled Yukika to the carpet ground and they started wrestling to see who could tickle each other the most.

"Katagiri Yukika?" said an albino-looking girl.

Yukika did not dare to even move a single muscle when she realized who that albino girl was. Suzushina Yuiko placing a hand on her shoulder was the equivalent of being held at gunpoint without anyone noticing.

"Is something wrong?" said Koemi who seemed to have understood what was actually going on.

"We just have some questions for Miss Katagiri. We'll let her go once we're done."

Koemi nodded with tears, "Okay."

She had a terrible feeling about what was coming next. Perhaps this was the last time she was going to see Koemi ever again. She took the risk by taking on the job to kill Takitsubo Rikou and now she was paying the consequences.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

* * *

Misaki got what she wanted to know from Yukika who was being tied to a chair inside an abandoned office space at District 10. The hired killer was indeed her. And the person who hired Yukika was someone who calls herself the Devil who talks in an artificial sounding voice. Just as predicted, the Devil wanted her to kill Rikou and Touma because they were potential threats to a strange network of AIM fields known as Diffusion Ghost. This meant that the Devil must be the true mastermind behind the terrorist attack at Seventh Mist.

"Anything else you're not telling us?" said Misaki.

"That's all I swear," said Yukika.

The Devil never once showed herself to Yukika, only preferring to talk through the phone and make payment through a wire transfer. Even though it wasn't possible to find out more about the Devil through Yukika, but at least they have a lead.

"I guess we can let her go now?" said Yuriko.

Misaki picked up a phone call from a weird number, "Who's this?"

"Good evening, slut. I have a favor to ask for you."

Misaki trembled in fear. This voice… it was the same voice that blackmailed her with video evidence of her… engaging in prostitution! The voice who calls herself the Devil of Academy City back at the control room when Yuriko's power went out of control. The Devil even played a small snippet of the video evidence as proof that it was indeed her.

"What do you want?" said Misaki in a harsh whisper.

"I am sending someone to your location right now. I don't care what you do or say. Make sure you hand Yukika over to him without any trouble. If you fail to do so, I'm sure you know what's going to happen next."

The line went dead.

"I don't think we can let her go," said Misaki.

"But why?" said Yuriko.

"Because I… made a deal with the Kiharas to hand Yukika over. In exchange, they'll protect Rikou from any further harm. Isn't that great? Now Rikou doesn't have to worry about anything anymore."

Rikou glared at her defiantly, "No. We will let her go."

Misaki blinked tears away as she fell on her knees, "But I'll be the one dead if you let her go. Please?"

In a way, this was true. If Touma ever finds out that she prostituted herself, she'll kill herself with Mental Out. It was as easy as putting a finger to her head.

Yukika knocked herself over, eyes wide open in horror as she struggled to break free from the ropes, "That motherfucker bitch is lying! She just wants me dead because I shot her boyfriend Touma! Let me go! I don't want to die!"

Misaki buried her face in shame. She couldn't bear to see how betrayed Rikou and Yuriko looked as they helplessly watched armed personnel drag Yukika away. Why wouldn't they be? Yukika was far more convincing than a stupid excuse she made up on the spot.

Things were going great. And then everything came tumbling down towards a dark pit of despair.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Finally, a bigger chapter. Hope you guys enjoy the increased content. If you have any comments, please do leave a review below.


	8. At The Edge Of Despair

Touma shrugged his shoulder before signing the hospital discharge form, "Rotten luck, I guess?"

He was here at the hospital a few days ago for a minor head injury and the doctor Heaven Canceller was glad for once that he didn't have to admit him to a room. Just when Touma thought maybe his luck might finally be changing, seven shots to his body proved him wrong. The surgery to remove the bullets from his body went well and there were no permanent damage whatsoever so at least that's good news.

"Keep this up and you're going to break the record for most hospital visits in a year," said Heaven Canceller.

"Do I win a prize for that because I'm sure as hell going to break that record whether I like it or not."

"Just try not to get into any trouble anymore."

Touma left the hospital with yet another huge number added to his medical debt. If this continues- no this will continue and the amount he had to pay will become so huge that he was also going to break the record for being the youngest person who went bankrupt.

Shiage was the one who came to accompany him back to the dormitory building instead of Misaki.

"Is Misaki busy with classes today?" said Touma.

"Well, there's something I need to tell you first about her."

"What happened? Is she-"

"Don't worry, Misaki's fine. It's just something that she did."

Apparently, the thing Misaki did was to make a deal with the Kiharas that if she found out who was the hired killer after him and Rikou, she is to hand the hired killer over to the Kiharas. In exchange, the Kiharas will protect him and Rikou from any future attempts on their lives. Because Misaki said she will die if she chooses to back out of the deal, Rikou and Yuriko simply did nothing and watched the Kiharas take the hired killer away.

However, Rikou thinks that the truth could be Misaki making a deal with the Kiharas to execute the hired killer on her behalf for daring to shoot him. A case of getting revenge against someone who hurt him and ensuring that Misaki got the right person through Rikou basically.

"If Rikou knew that Misaki made such a deal from the start, she would've just let matters rest to protect the hired killer. She may not look like it, but she's actually one of the kindest people I've ever met. I sometimes wonder what she sees in a lowlife like me," said Shiage.

Turns out that Shiage used to be an underling for one of the local mobs in Japan who made a living by hijacking or robbing cars at a young age of seven. Meanwhile, Rikou was a rich girl with parents who tries their best to help others with their wealth. One day, they died in a freak accident and all of her relatives gobbled up all her parent's cash and assets, leaving her with nothing.

Touma heard freak accident and wondered if it has anything to do with him. Was the couple who picked him up after he fell Rikou's parents? Because not everyone he touches gets cursed with misfortune, he thought they would be fine. He was wrong.

"Did the accident happen somewhere along Takeshita Street?"

"Yeah. Actually, Rikou saw her parents picking you up out of kindness and soon after an out of control truck crashed into them while crossing the road to her side."

"So she knew from the start that I was the one who killed her parents. Is she always so... emotionless because of me?"

Shiage slapped Touma on the back with a chuckle, "Of course not. She's always been like that even when her parents were alive."

"What about you? Don't you hate me for ruining Rikou's life?"

"I just think it's a shitty coincidence. Even Rikou thinks that way as well. Come on, stop blaming yourself for everything that happened."

If he was just an ordinary boy, it might really be a shitty coincidence. But Imagine Breaker was proof that he is anything but normal. All of this happened because IT partially broke free from Imagine Breaker and there was no way anyone would believe him.

Whatever the case, he still owe Rikou an apology. And he needed to know where Misaki was right now.

Misaki sat at a park bench. She wasn't in the mood for classes. Besides, she had always performed beyond expectations so she could simply skip coming to classes altogether and just take part in experiments if she wants.

Rikou handed a can of strawberry soda to her, "Thought you might be thirsty."

"Why are you here? Don't you hate me for using you for my own selfish reasons?"

"I trust that you did it to protect me. So could you trust me as well?"

Misaki did not like where this conversation was going. The stinging pain from the icy cold soda can was nothing compared to the pain of letting Rikou find out the truth behind yesterday's incident regarding Yukika.

"Tell me," said Rikou. "Who was on the phone with you last night?"

"The Kihara that I made a deal with of course. He called me to check if I had already captured Yukika."

"Which Kihara?"

"Kihara Noukan."

Rikou cracked open her can of soda with a smile, "Oh, he's here already."

Touma appeared and Rikou left the park after saying goodbye.

"Shiage told you everything?" said Misaki.

She should have been the one to pick Touma up from the hospital but she was just too ashamed to face anybody. She lied about making a deal with the Kiharas to kill Yukika in exchange for Rikou's safety only because she wanted to keep a stupid secret from Touma. Like, what's the big deal? It's not like anybody's going to die or the world ending if Touma were to know that she engaged in prositution.

Misaki hugged Touma in tears, "I'm so sorry. I just wanted to protect Rikou and you, that's all."

"Can you promise me not to do such a thing again?"

"I promise."

She really wanted to trust Touma with that secret, but she couldn't. As if it wasn't bad enough that he knew that she was damaged goods. He cannot know that this 'damaged goods' still had the audacity to prostitute herself!

Misaki hugged Touma tighter. For now at least she could still live in a lie and pretend nothing ever happened. A sweet relief from the darkness.

* * *

Hebitani Tsuguo collapsed beside a car parked at the scrapyard near his hideout. The splitting headache was so intense he barely had any strength left to stand.

He was kind of glad at first that the plan changed from killing Child Errors to taking part in an experiment that would give them an ability to shoot lasers from their palm. But everyone in Big Spider wanted the strongest esper Suzushina Yuriko's ability instead. Go big or go home, they said. The Devil even warned them several times about the huge risks involved in having such a powerful ability.

Yeah, they were all home now. At home with whatever god that awaits them when they die. Maybe Academy City was right. They were Level 0s because they were too dumb to have powers. Fuck, he was such a dumbass who decided to go big and ended up going home instead.

"Rest in peace," said the Devil.

He then felt his consciousness slipping into the void together with his dreams of making Academy City a better place for Level 0s like him.

* * *

Aritomi Haruki tapped a key on his supercomputer to answer a video call from his investor Kihara Yuiitsu.

"Don't you think creating a decentralized Diffusion Ghost network using brainwaves would be better?" said Yuiitsu.

"I've already hired a space company to launch the core to the moon. It is impossible for Takitsubo Rikou's ability to extend that far from Earth."

A decentralised network may be harder to take down, but a single core network was far more easier to manage. Now that the core is safe on the moon, there was nothing to worry about anymore.

Diffusion Ghost was meant to control machines with AIM fields. However, if a human wishes to join the network, it was as easy as injecting a special nano transmitter that would connect the human's brainwave to the network which would then grant that person a preloaded ability from the core depending on which nano transmitter was injected.

Each time the Devil was around him, he could not help but keep stealing glances at her jaw-dropping curves accentuated by the skintight latex jumpsuit she was wearing. It would be utterly disappointing if the face hidden behind the helmet was a hideous monster. Since this was Academy City, it might be possible that the Devil was actually a guy who implanted huge tits, removed his genitals and talks in an artificial female voice to disguise himself as a girl.

"Anyway, how was the result of the first experiment to connect people's brainwave from Earth to your newly launched core at the moon?" said Yuiitsu.

"It was a success, but all of them died because their brain couldn't handle the massive amount of calculations needed to wield Yuriko's power," said the Devil.

Haruki snorted, "No surprises there. I think I'm being nice when I say that even a worm is smarter than those Skill-Out thugs."

"If you're so smart, perhaps you'd like to have a go at wielding Yuriko's ability?"

"I certainly would like to see if a genius like Mr Aritomi could handle Yuriko's ability," said Yuiitsu with a grin on her face. She even had a pen and notepad ready.

"Th-That's not the purpose of Diffusion Ghost at all!"

Yuiitsu laughed, "Relax, I was just joking. But if Diffusion Ghost starts to become a disappointment… that's a different story altogether."

"Of course. We won't disappoint you," said Haruki.

Soon Academy City will know that esper abilities isn't everything. When the Silent Party is over, genius scientists like him with no abilities will finally gain the recognition that they deserve.

* * *

When Yuriko looked at the time, she realized she had been in her apartment for the whole day already. Maybe she should go get dinner for herself instead of hiding like a coward. Nothing would change the fact that Katagiri Yukika died because she was afraid of using her powers against the Kiharas.

People call her the strongest, but if she truly was the strongest Rikou and Misaki wouldn't have hesitated to ask her for help. Still, the Kiharas isn't someone she could take on and win. They were the ones who developed her powers into the way it is today after all. Spinning up something like the strange sound at the mall that made her lose control over her ability was a piece of cake to them. Not to mention the other hidden methods they might have at their disposal to take her down.

Yuriko tossed her controller aside with a sigh. Those lame excuses were further proof of how much of a coward she was.

There was a knock on the door. Could it be Rikou who bought dinner for her?

Touma handed her a takeaway bowl of oyakodon for dinner, "Rikou has something on today, so she told me to bring you dinner on her behalf."

"A date with Shiage? That's odd. I thought they usually go out on the weekends."

"Apparently she wanted to catch up with an old acquaintance."

"Misaka Mikoto?"

Yuriko placed her dinner into a thermal food warmer and hopped back into Fatal Kombat 7, "I met her once I think. Very friendly and helpful."

If Mikoto was in her position, she would've fought the Kiharas regardless of the consequences. Reckless yes. But it was about having the guts to stand up for what's right and despite being the strongest esper, she was utterly lacking in guts.

Touma picked up a spare controller and started a game with her. As Yuriko played with Touma, she realized that losing was actually the challenge, not winning. No matter how hard she tried, she would always win because the game would glitch and lag at the right moment to give her the win.

"Rotten luck, huh?" said Yuriko.

"You're just good at the game."

Misaki said that his misfortune used to be a lot more serious. It got to the point where he could potentially kill someone by touching them. So he spends the rest of the day hiding at home and only comes out at night to buy groceries. Academy City accidentally cured him somehow, so he's a free man now. She was also free from hiding in an experimental facility 24/7 because she finally had enough control over her powers to function normally. Maybe it's time she should start having more confidence in herself!

"Aren't you hungry?" said Touma.

"Not really. I mean I don't mind having my dinner now if you want."

Touma took out the bowl of oyakodon from the thermal food warmer with a smile, "Here you go, Yurippe."

Yuriko felt her face burning hot with embarrassment, "What's with that nickname you're giving me all of a sudden?! Shiage is a bad influence on you!"

"I wanted to call you Yuri-nee, but you don't look like an onee-san so I went with Yurippe instead."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't you know that all onee-san are supposed to be busty?"

"I once played a dating sim game where every girl is so well-endowed that a girl with boobs the size of a watermelon was actually the smallest in the game. Gross."

"I'm just kidding about the onee-san part. We're the same age remember?"

Yuriko finished her food and tossed it into a trash bin marked as combustible.

"I used to have an onee-san actually," said Touma. "But I'm not sure if I should just leave her alone in peace."

"What happened?"

"I killed her father by accident."

"Well, I'm the last person you should be asking for advice when it comes to relationship issues."

"I'm not asking for advice. I just… wanted to talk to someone who'd understand how I feel."

Yuriko placed her hand on Touma's right hand to comfort him. If they had met at a different time, things might have gone a lot more differently. She could've been the one who could hug and kiss Touma when he's feeling low instead of Misaki.

* * *

SYSTEM's goal is to understand the will of the heavens, and to achieve it is to find a human that surpasses humanity. In other words, a body that exceeds humans and can do God's calculations.

The more Touma read his textbook about esper development, the more he felt like he was studying for a trivia quiz about a game called Academy City Online than actual science. Esper development appears to be a science, but it looked more like they got lucky with whatever drug combinations they were using.

Shiage had already fallen asleep with his textbook on his face. He's definitely going to fail that test next week.

Rikou entered the room and let out a sigh upon seeing how easily Shiage gave up on studying.

"Come with me. There's something I want to ask you."

Before Touma could say anything, Rikou dragged him into the male washroom.

"You can't go here. That's the-"

"Shut up. Is it true that Misaki was sexually abused?"

No surprises there. Mikoto was so fucking helpful that she found it necessary to tell Rikou about what happened to Misaki.

"Yes, but-"

"Then get Misaki a therapist already."

"I tried. I really did. She just refuses to get one no matter what I say."

Him agreeing to be Misaki's therapist was really a band aid solution. Trauma from sexual abuse was something so delicate and complicated that to think that he alone could magically fix it was sheer arrogance. Maybe he should seriously start coming up with some plan to convince Misaki to get a therapist.

* * *

Misaki entered a building to see a burly man with a beard tied up and unconscious. This was the second request from the Devil. She is to extract all memories from the man regarding a glowing blue cube called the Tesseract. It was something that could potentially change the world with its ability to generate an infinite amount of pure energy. The problem was in turning the pure energy into something usable.

The Devil was a lady in a black latex jumpsuit that covered every inch of her skin while wearing green helmet to mask her true voice and probably also to protect herself from being killed by Mental Out.

She flashed that video playing on a phone as a form of identification, "Is not letting him know about your secret more important than staying alive?"

So what if three psychometrist before her died trying to extract that particular memory about the Tesseract from the man. She was prepared to die the moment Touma knows about her secret anyway.

Misaki placed a hand on the man. Extracting memories was like using a search engine with Tesseract as the keyword. There it was, the man handed the Tesseract to another guy after retrieving it from the Atlantic Ocean.

_Hello._

The cube just said hello telepathically as if it was right there beside her. It was excited and wanted to show her something. This must be how the three other psychometrist died. They couldn't handle whatever that the Tesseract had shown them.

The Tesseract pulled her into a misty portal.

_A future. _

Misaki saw herself in a uniform that belong to Tokiwadai Middle School. Her full power at Level 5 allowed her to modify people's memories instead of killing them. She could also cast an illusion to trick those horny men into thinking they had sex with her instead. She was also using a remote to access and control their minds from a distance.

"Who are-"

And then she was back in the building. The Tesseract was definitely more than just a cube that produces an infinite amount of pure energy. It was… alive and very powerful. No wonder the Devil was so interested in its location. Anyone in possession of the Tesseract might just be able to achieve SYSTEM.

"What have you found?" said the Devil.

"The Tesseract was last seen at the Atlantic Ocean. Other than that, I got nothing."

"Good enough. Now dispose of him for me."

Misaki picked up a gun while wearing gloves and fired several shots at the man's head. Her way of using Mental Out to kill people was too unique.

The Devil went over to the man, checked his pulse and then shook her head like a parent disappointed with her child for committing such a heinous act.

Misaki gritted her teeth in anger, "What's with that fucking attitude?! It's you who asked me to kill him! You! Not me!"

"You could've chosen not to kill, but you did anyway."

"Stop acting like you're so virtuous. If you were in my position, you would have done the exact same thing as me."

"And I wanted you to be better."

"You expect too much from a slut like me."

Misaki burst into tears. The Tesseract showed her a future where she was a powerful Level 5 but not a future with Touma. That's right. A slut like her can have all the power in the world, but she'll never be worthy of his love. She was only buying time by giving in to the Devil's demands until the day when he finds out everything on his own.

Closer by closer, she was slipping past the edge into eternal darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Wow, I really surprised myself there by managing to finish this chapter in like less than a week? It may be a relatively short chapter but I hope the speed makes up for it.

Introducing the Tesseract in this story is something I'm personally excited about because it opens up an interesting path. This isn't a MCU crossover so don't expect Thor or Hulk to appear. Only the Infinity Stones will appear. Nothing else. Loved Thor: Ragnarok by the way, haha.

Hope you liked the chapter. If you have any comments, please do leave a review below.

I'll leave you with a question to think about though.

What do you think is the relationship between the Imagine Breaker and the Tesseract?


	9. Welcome To The Party

Misaki clasped both hands into a prayer in front of Mother Mary at a small church outside of Academy City.

"If you can hear me, please I beg you. Tell the Lord I'm sorry for everything I did. What should I do to earn His forgiveness?"

She never really believed in any higher power until the Tesseract made contact with her. It slowly dawned upon her that the Tesseract wasn't just powerful. It played a similar role to Mother Mary. An intercessor before God. Since her attempts to contact the Tesseract failed miserably, Mother Mary was her only option left.

The Devil took a seat beside her, "I've heard that it's heresy to worship the Mother Mary. Something about violating the first commandment of God, no?"

Misaki wanted so much to pierce through the latex jumpsuit the Devil was wearing and kill her immediately with Mental Out. That would certainly be the end of her problems. She was in no mood to argue about what's biblical and what isn't.

The Devil removed her helmet to reveal an elegant and mature beauty with black hair tied into a bun. She looked a little like Touma's Seria-nee, just much, much more elegant and mature.

The Devil then tapped on a wrist device and the latex jumpsuit flowed into the device like water being drained into a kitchen sink. The singlet dress she wore exposed most of her arms and legs. It had to be a trap. She wouldn't be that stupid.

"I know what's in your head," said the Devil. "But are you seriously going to kill me in front of Mother Mary?"

Misaki slammed a fist down on the bench. The Devil was disgustingly manipulative. She did all this just to spite her.

"Do you find me disgusting just like the rest?"

The Devil put on her helmet and reactivated her latex jumpsuit through the wrist device, "I have one last request. Do it, and I'll let you go for good."

* * *

Yuriko could no longer tell the difference between holding Touma's hand because it was necessary to suppress her powers or because she liked the feeling of holding his hand. She had the whole day alone with Touma since Misaki was away for an experiment and Shiage was with Rikou doing their own things.

"We should just give her more time," said Yuriko.

She knew that Misaki must have experienced something horrible in the past and to hear that it was actually sexual abuse made her even more guilty for even thinking about challenging Misaki for Touma's love. Forcing Misaki to get a therapist would only make things worse. No one else can help her except herself.

"You have a point," said Touma.

"Interested in going up to space?"

There was an opening concert at the Endymion Space Elevator a few days later. The space elevator was an engineering miracle made possible with the collaboration of an American space company called Orbit Portal Company and Academy City.

Touma pointed to a poster advertising the concert, "That? Unless you're telling me you have a couple of millions lying around in your bank account or you won the lucky ticket giveaway event, no way we're going up to space."

"Money's not an issue. Just let your big sister handle everything."

"I'm sorry, but you're still a Yurippe to me."

Yuriko resignedly shrugged her shoulders with a smile. Yurippe was at least a better nickname than Sleepyhead. It sounded cute, and most importantly it was kind of like a connection between them.

There was wonderful music coming from somewhere. Yuriko held Touma's right hand and squeezed through a crowd. It was from a girl with pink hair accompanying her singing with an electronic keyboard.

The music eventually came to an end and the crowd started to disperse until there was only Yuriko and Touma left.

As the girl was walking towards them, she tripped on some wires and accidentally fell onto Touma. The girl jumped away in embarrassment before apologizing profusely to Touma.

Yuriko laughed. If this happened to Shiage, Rikou would definitely rip him a new one even if it was an accident.

The girl introduced herself as Meigo Arisa, a street musician who loved performing music for others.

"Hey Yuriko, how have you been?" said Arisa.

"Have we met somewhere before?"

"You helped me find my way to the facility remember?"

It was such a long time ago that Yuriko almost forgot about it. She was just released from her 24/7 experimental facility prison when she met Arisa who didn't know her way to the facility for her first Power Development Program operation. Arisa still remembered her name because of her distinctive hair and skin color.

Arisa grabbed one end of the electronic keyboard like it was a piece of paper and slipped it into a carrying bag. It was a 76 key electronic keyboard that must have weighed close to 10kg.

"It seems like you've developed some kind of super strength as an ability," said Yuriko.

Arisa's face went red, "Yeah… I'm still a Level 0 though."

"Don't worry about that, maybe the next SYSTEM scan might upgrade you to a Level 1," said Touma.

"I don't really care about levels. As long as my music brings happiness to everyone, that's enough for- please excuse me for a moment."

Arisa picked up a call and then jumped in joy at being selected to be the singer for the upcoming concert at the Endymion Space Elevator.

"Congratulations!" said Yuriko.

Today must be her lucky day. At first she wasn't sure if she could get tickets even with millions in her bank account, but surely Arisa could talk to the backstage people and grab tickets for everyone.

* * *

Misaki put on her best smile as that scum Aritomi Haruki kept droning on and on and on about his shitty achievements no one cares about in a high end restaurant. The last request the Devil wanted her to do was go on a compensated date with that scum.

The scum awkwardly tried to wipe something off her face.

Misaki let out a forced laughter, "Thank you."

Does he honestly think she's his real girlfriend even though they've met for less than a day? What a fucking creep as well. And to think that she was on a compensated date with him instead of a normal date.

After they were finished with their food, the scum brought her to a hotel room. He should have done that from the start. What a waste of time. Everyone knows that compensated dating is really just prostitution.

Misaki stripped the scum naked and pinned him down to the bed. His face was even redder than a tomato as he whispered that it was his first time with a girl. She started stroking his cock with one hand as she placed another hand on his head. Maybe if she was actually Level 5 she could skip the stroking, but this was her first time casting an illusion on his mind. She needed an effective lead-in to make her illusion more convincing.

Casting the illusion was like dragging out the worst memories from her own mind and repackage it as a sexy porno to be projected onto that scum's mind. It was mentally taxing because she had to maintain the illusion while not shutting down in tears from reliving the trauma again.

Come on, you can do this! No, no, don't-

The scum snapped out of the illusion and slapped her across the cheeks, "Fuck you! I even treated you to a nice meal and this is what I get in return? A fucking lie?!"

Misaki grabbed a chair and hurled it at the window, "You should be fucking grateful I even touched your filthy cock! If it wasn't for the Devil, I would've killed you right here and now."

The scum called the Devil.

Misaki clenched her fists as she entered the room where the Devil was waiting. She wanted so badly to run away, but she couldn't. Touma mustn't know about her secret.

"Is this some kind of a cruel joke because you find me disgusting? Yes, I'm willing to prostitute myself in exchange for not letting Touma know that I once prostituted myself. Are you happy now? Are you going to also film the whole thing just so you have new material to blackmail me with?"

The Devil took off her helmet. An angry frown on her face. Like a big sister so utterly disappointed that she was on the verge of exploding. It must be her shitty manipulation tactic of making it look like none of this was her fault.

"If that four-eyed nerd calls me one more time, Touma knowing about your secret will be the least of your concerns. Now stop being a crybaby and get back to work."

Misaki dragged her feet towards that scum's room. Maybe closing her eyes and not think about anything would make the time pass quicker.

* * *

Yuriko felt that it was a shame that Arisa loved jazz but had to play pop music because more people liked pop.

"I mean, it's still music after all and I don't exactly hate playing pop," said Arisa.

It was embarrassing to hold onto Touma's hands while Arisa was here. After all, she wasn't Touma's girlfriend. But there were so many people around her coming in and out of shophouses.

Touma sighed, "If only happiness can really be as simple as humming a happy tune. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work that way."

"Is there anything troubling you?" said Arisa.

"The only thing troubling me is how I will always somehow miss the bargain sale every evening."

Yuriko knew that it was really Misaki. Touma wanted so much to help her, but the only one who can help her is herself. And even if Misaki did get a therapist, it doesn't necessarily mean that her trauma would be magically erased.

Wait a minute, why was that bank closed even though it was only noon? Wasn't it supposed to close at 5pm? A panicky Judgement girl was calling for Anti-Skill to handle a bank robbery. Oh, so that's what's going on.

"You sure about that?" said Touma.

"Yeah. I'll be back real soon."

She won't run away anymore. This time, she'll be the hero.

Yuriko turned invisible and then walked through the shutters like it was made of paper. The three robbers looked around in confusion and fear. All she needed to do now was touch them one by one to apply the appropriate force needed to knock them out.

After knocking all of them out, Yuriko dragged their unconscious bodies out and handed them to Anti-Skill. This was how powerful she was and it was shameful how she kept refraining from using that power to help others.

Yuriko grabbed hold of Touma's right hand. As long as he's around, it feels like she can finally step out of her cowardice and grow as a person.

* * *

Rikou slipped into an alleyway. This time, it was for business purposes, not leisure. Yuriko and especially Shiage kept nagging how dangerous it was for her to explore alleyways. It was actually as dangerous as crossing the road. They just refused to believe her. Accidents do happen however. If Shiage ever finds out she was almost raped at the alleyway, he would even sell his soul to the devil if that's the price to stop her 'dangerous' hobby.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu handed her a brown envelope. He was someone who worked in the Dark Side as an information broker. With the right amount of money, he'll provide you with the information you want.

"A word of advice. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. You'll understand once you read what's inside," said Motoharu.

"I know how the game is played."

Rikou went into a more secluded area and opened the brown envelope. There was a special USB stick that supported NFC technology.

Rikou tapped her phone on the USB stick and with NFC technology, all the contents from the USB stick was transferred into her phone. She listened to the call recording of Misaki and a mysterious person during the night when she helplessly watched Yukika being dragged away to hell. The call bothered her a lot. There must be something more to it. And she was right.

The mysterious person was blackmailing Misaki with probably a video of Misaki being sexually abused by someone. That explains why that person called Misaki a slut. It was that person who wanted Yukika dead, not the Kiharas.

Now for the details of who that person is. The person blackmailing Misaki is known as the Devil. A legendary figure among the Level 0s thugs. The Devil punishes all who abuses their esper abilities on Level 0s despite being a Level 0 herself. Not hard to see why the Level 0s thugs would see her as some sort of saviour. But there was an additional note saying that the Devil was really a venus flytrap that lure those Level 0s thugs who look up to her into becoming test subjects for an experiment.

The experiment was Diffusion Ghost and the goal is to make gaining abilities as easy as 'wearing' an artificial AIM field. She encountered Diffusion Ghost before at Seventh Mist with Yuriko and it was as easy as tracing the artificial AIM field that the user was 'wearing' back to its source and use her ability to destabilize the source to shut Diffusion Ghost down. No surprises why the Devil wanted her dead by hiring Yukika to kill her.

"Was that what Motoharu meant by the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

Yuriko was left alone only because she was determined to be the 'spare plan'. However, the current 'main plan' turned out to be unsatisfactory, so the Kiharas were finding ways to 'upgrade' Yuriko into becoming the new 'main plan'. The Devil plans to use Diffusion Ghost to help the Kiharas achieve that for a chance to be promoted to a member of the Board of Directors.

Rikou could feel it. Diffusion Ghost has been activated and all communications has been conveniently shut down.

She ran out of the alleyway and hoped she could reach Yuriko in time.

* * *

Ushiba Sozui was awed to see the legendary Devil in person as she rallied three of the biggest Skill-Out factions together to launch a revolution.

Some of the leaders were unhappy at first to receive shooting plasma lasers as their power from Diffusion Ghost but Big Spider was a warning to those who wanted a better ability. Shooting plasma lasers was the most powerful ability that they Level 0s could handle. Fortunately, there were a few Powered Suits equipped with the strongest esper's ability using Diffusion Ghost to aid them.

Sozui eyed the syringe filled with a translucent liquid suspiciously. All they had to do was inject that liquid into their body and they will gain an ability to shoot plasma lasers by connecting their minds to Diffusion Ghost through the nanomachines in the liquid. The Devil reassured them that there will be no side-effects, but something about Diffusion Ghost as a whole just feels off.

His friend Noburo casually injected the liquid into his arm like it was just harmless vitamins going into his body.

"Aren't you afraid that this Diffusion Ghost would turn you into a zombie or something?" said Sozui.

"What choice do we have as a Level 0 anyway. This is the only real chance we have at destroying this fucked up city that treats us like trash."

It wasn't only this city that was fucked up. The Kiharas themselves are fucked in the head. They are perfectly willing to blow the entire city up so long as that ensures the success of their experiments.

Sozui injected the liquid into his body. This Diffusion Ghost may have been partially backed by Kihara Yuiitsu, but like all Kiharas, she only cares about Diffusion Ghost being a success and if the city gets destroyed as a result of that, so be it. Good. Because they're going to destroy that city together with the Kiharas.

He felt a hot sensation around his chest and arms. Like there was some kind of power he could release just by thinking about it. This must be how it feels like to be an actual esper with abilities.

Sozui suddenly found himself in a school full of attractive girls greeting him as Master. That was odd… he was supposed to be in a warehouse with everyone and launch their revolution from there, right?

He pushed the girls aside and sprinted out of the school into a street filled with even more attractive girls. What the hell was going on?! Where did everybody go?! They still had a revolution to complete!

There was no mistaking it. All of them got fucking played by the Kiharas. They thought they were finally going to put an end to this fucked up city. No, they were the ones going to be put to an end by this fucked up city.

Sozui slammed his fists repeatedly onto a stone wall. Level 0s like him never really had a choice in the first place. They can pray for a miracle however much as they like. There will be no miracle. That is the reality of how things work on this shitty planet.

* * *

Aritomi Haruki smirked as he watched his army of enhanced Level 0s successfully taking over several key facilities in Academy City.

"Welcome to the Silent Party."

Although Diffusion Ghost could take control of their body because their minds were connected to the Diffusion Ghost network, but there was always a risk they could mentally take back control.

Misaki's DNA, as offered by Kihara Yuiitsu, was a perfect last-minute solution to rob their will to fight back and gain control by casting illusions. The core of the Diffusion Ghost he built was so powerful that it was able to recreate a small portion of Misaki's ability using her DNA and use it on everyone connected to the network. Even he had fallen prey to Misaki's illusions for a brief moment but he was too smart to be fooled by her illusions.

If the Devil weren't such a spoilsport, he would have also put a leash on a naked Misaki and place her beside him right now so that she could give him blowjobs anytime he wanted as further punishment for trying to fool him with illusions.

He then accepted a call with the Board of Directors asking what he wants from doing all these.

"All I ask is that I be a member of the Board of Directors. Do it, and I'll withdraw my army of enhanced Level 0s," said Haruki.

Once he becomes a member, he will finally have the authority and power to ensure that Level 0s like him would no longer be overshadowed by those espers. Who said that abilities are everything? Look at his army of enhanced Level 0s effortlessly crushing Anti-Skill and Judgement together with his Powered Suits equipped with the strongest esper's ability. This was the power of a genius intellect.

"We will not be blackmailed by a random nobody like you," said the Board of Directors.

"Then don't blame me for what's about to happen next."

Haruki issued a command to his army to move to District 7 and destroy everyone on sight.

* * *

Rikou charged headlong into the chaos in District 5. She used her AIM Stalker ability to disable the Powered Suits that were slaughtering people with shockwaves. She may not be able to reach the core powering those Suits, but she could temporarily block the connection between them.

"God dammit, Rikou!" said Shiage who was chasing her from behind.

"I told you not to follow me."

"And let you recklessly kill yourself?!"

"You're the one being reckless by following me."

All transport and communications were conveniently down. She had no choice but to run and pray she could reach Yuriko in time. Just a little more and she would reach District 7 where Yuriko was most likely to be there with Touma.

Her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the road. No! Not when she's that close to reaching District 7! Fine, she'll just have to crawl her way there-

Shiage carried her into an alley.

"At least take a break first," said Shiage.

"I… can't..."

The sudden lack of movement triggered muscle spasms and breathlessness. Now she can't even crawl because of Shiage. But there was still one last option.

Rikou reached into her pockets to find that her box of Body Crystal pills were gone.

Shiage took out her box of Body Crystal pills from his pockets with a frown, "Looking for this?"

"Please."

"You'll destroy your body if you keep eating those pills! Why- I don't understand why you won't listen to me."

Without those Body Crystal pills, she would only be limited to tracking people's AIM fields and that wouldn't be enough to deal with those Powered Suits.

"Shiage, this is not the time. Give me those pills now."

"Come on, don't do this to me."

Rikou blinked away tears. She was running out of time before losing Yuriko to the Kiharas. She has lost so much already. No more. She will not let the Kiharas take Yuriko away from her.

"I know Yuriko doesn't want to go back being isolated from everyone again. I need to help her not have any reasons to go back. Shiage, please, we're running out of time."

Shiage reluctantly shoved the box of Body Crystal pills into her chest in tears, "I hate you."

Rikou smiled. Shiage was the only one who could tolerate her selfishness, and for that she was thankful for him being in her life.

Even if you hate me, I still love you all the same.

* * *

District 7 fell into chaos as a group of thugs with silver stars on their eyes were firing laser beams at the people and building around them.

Yuriko tried to knock the entire group unconscious with a heavy gust of wind. Didn't work. It was like they were zombies being controlled by someone.

She forged a sharp blade using the asphalt underneath her and chopped their limbs off. It was fine since Academy City was great at attaching new limbs to people. Now they were floating while shooting laser beams from their eyes instead.

Touma was running about to negate the lasers but he was only one person and his right hand had very little range since he had to touch the lasers to negate it.

Yuriko sighed before chopping their heads off with the asphalt blade. So much for being the strongest. In the end, her powers were only capable of violence and nothing else.

"It's Diffusion Ghost," said Touma. "We need to contact Rikou as soon as possible."

Touma managed to get something from a man who said that they joined the Diffusion Ghost network to gain esper powers for their revolution. But somehow Diffusion Ghost turned them into slaves trapped in an illusion and the man killed himself with laser beams while he still could. The mastermind behind all this was someone called the Devil. It must be the same Devil at Seventh Mist.

"Someone must be jamming the signals around here," said Yuriko. She was unable to contact anyone with her phone.

"Then how is it possible that Misaki managed to send a text message to me?"

"Because she sent you this message an hour ago. Your phone displayed the notification only now."

It was a message saying not to let her powers be suppressed by anyone including Anti-Skill or Judgement but it was cut off before Misaki could explain why.

Touma's phone rang. There was only one person who could be behind the call. That person must have kidnapped Misaki before she could reveal any more details.

"The Devil has Misaki. I need to go save her."

Although Yuriko was afraid of not having Touma to control her in case she loses control, but she'd take her own advice and not be a coward.

"You'll be fine, right?" said Touma.

"Don't worry about me. Just go before something bad happens to Misaki."

* * *

Aiho was inside a building facing a nuclear facility taken over by the thugs who had silver stars on their eyes with everyone who was still alive from her squadron. They were handling the thugs well enough until a super Powered Suit appeared out of nowhere and slaughtered most of her squadron mates by hurling shockwave punches.

"What's the plan now, Captain?" said Tessou.

"We'll wait until the Tree Diagram is finished with its analysis," said Aiho.

She pulled up a hologram from her custom wrist P-Phone. According to the Tree Diagram's analysis simplified enough for non-scientists like them, an AIM network called Diffusion Ghost was controlling those thugs and the Powered Suits. The source happens to be from Suzushina Yuriko's AIM field. To shut down the network, it was necessary that Yuriko be temporarily depowered.

This doesn't make sense at all. Why would Yuriko become a part of Diffusion Ghost? She was someone so afraid of her powers hurting people that she once imprisoned herself in an experimental facility for close to a year before she finally gained enough confidence to leave. There must be a misunderstanding somewhere.

Aiho called HQ to ask if anyone has been dispatched to face Yuriko.

"Sogiita Gunha," said HQ.

Aiho terminated the call, "Let's head to District 7 right now."

"What for, Captain?"

"I just have a bad feeling about Gunha."

Aiho sighed. He may be powerful but was horrible in negotiating and de-escalating situations. If he tries to take Yuriko by force, he might end up destroying the whole city.

* * *

Yuriko overheard from a Anti-Skill van that the silver-eyed thugs had taken over several key facilities in Academy City with the help of a super Powered Suit that easily wiped out a whole team of elite Anti-Skill members using shockwave punches. The closest key facility from here was a nuclear facility in District 10.

A strange boy wearing a white headband introduced himself as a Judgement officer named Sogiita Gunha. He did have the green armband and for some reason he had his jacket worn over his shoulders like a superhero cape. Did anyone tell him that modern superheroes no longer wear capes anymore?

"Miss, I suspect that you're involved in an AIM network called Diffusion Ghost. Please come with me."

"It's a trap. Someone is trying to manipulate Judgement and Anti-Skill to depower me. Right now, I'm the only one standing in their way and if you depower me, you'll lose. Judgement and Anti-Skill will be wiped out by the super Powered Suits and the thugs."

"According to the Tree Diagram, you're the source of Diffusion Ghost so we'll need to temporarily depower you to shut it down. If you're as innocent as you say, then there's nothing you should be afraid of."

"I'm not coming with you."

"You leave me with no choice but to take you in by force."

Yuriko dodged a colorful fist from Gunha, "You're going to hurt yourself if you hit me. I have a barrier that reflects anything it touches."

"I'm not afraid of a little pain."

Yuriko turned invisible and flew as far away from Gunha as possible. He was a fucking moron just like the rest. No matter how many times she warned them, those morons never listen. In the end, they are the ones screaming in pain with a limb or two ripped apart.

"Super Ultra Giga Tackle!"

A colourful burst of light slammed her into a car below. The fall didn't hurt at all, but it was strange how she failed to completely reflect the vectors of that light. Gunha on the other hand must have bore the brunt of the vectors she did successfully reflect away as he struggled to get up from a crater caused by the impact. How in the world did he even know where she was in the first place?!

"I warned you. Now leave me alone," said Yuriko.

Gunha wiped blood from the corner of his lips, "Turning invisible? That's the most gutless move I've seen."

"Last chance. Leave me the fuck alone."

"My guts will overcome anything, even you!"

Yuriko gritted her teeth. Why does everyone want to keep hurting themselves no matter how many times she warned them?!

She darted forward, tore apart the barrier Gunha hastily raised, and hurled a fist to his face. He was much, much stronger than the usual morons. Maybe that was why he was arrogant enough to think he could actually take her on.

No matter how much guts Gunha put into his attacks, it was useless against her barrier. She had already figured out how the vectors of his attacks worked.

"Pathetic," said Yuriko.

She then pinned Gunha down and kept pummeling his face.

Guts, guts, guts. He was starting to piss her off. Why won't he just stay down?! Why was he hurling colorful blasts even though it was just going to be reflected back at him?!

"Your guts is just going to get you killed."

A mysterious force knocked Yuriko aside. Yet, that was all it did. A small nudge to create some distance between them.

"I told you. My guts can overcome anything, even you," said Gunha.

Unlike Gunha, she was utterly lacking in guts. All she ever did was run away from using her powers to help others. If being the villain was the only way to save Gunha from killing himself, then so be it!

Yuriko gave in to a dark energy from within and a pair of murky black wings erupted from her back.

She raised a finger and telekinetically pushed Gunha down into the asphalt like crushing an ant. It didn't matter how much guts he has now. Her mysterious vectors had created an air-tight prison around him that cannot be destroyed by anything. The lack of oxygen will eventually knock him unconscious.

By the time Gunha fell unconscious, there were fully-armed Anti-Skill officers, tanks, Powered Suits, and fighter planes surrounding her.

Yuriko let out a resigned sigh as the murky black wings vanished. This was the second time already.

Kihara Yuiitsu hopped off a Powered Suit with a smile, "If you're willing to cooperate with us and advance from merely being the strongest, who knows, something might change for the better."

"I don't understand what you mean by that."

"Absolute power."

Yuriko turned her back against Rikou who was desperately trying to break through a group of Anti-Skill personnel.

It would be nice if she could go up to space with everyone for that opening concert, but she knew she won't be able to leave if she gives in. One day, her power is going to bring the whole world against her. And when that happens, she might really destroy everything. If power breeds conflict, then all she needed was absolute power. A power so great that no one will even think about challenging her. Even if it means becoming the Kiharas new 'main plan' even though Rikou was screaming at her to ignore the Kiharas.

I'm sorry, Rikou.

* * *

Oyafune Monaka poured herself a cup of tea as she watched the news on TV announcing the sudden end of the chaos that had gripped the city by the neck with modified Powered Suits and possessed Level 0s. It was no coincidence that as soon as the fight between Suzushina Yuriko and Sogiita Gunha ended, so did the chaos. Diffusion Ghost was merely an experiment to test the viability of Project R.E.N.S.A, and it was also unexpectedly used to carry out another experiment to see what would happen if the strongest esper produced by Academy City ended up fighting the strongest Gemstone produced by nature.

The tea tasted bitter, just the way she liked it. Life is often bitter, might as well get used to it. Such a shame how Seria gave up walking on the right path because of that incident. Seria's intellect could have done a lot more good if she hadn't given up. One who fights against the darkness should be careful lest they end up being consumed by the darkness like Kumokawa Seria.

Oyafune switched to another channel currently airing a random funny game show. Perhaps Kamijou Touma might be able to pull Seria back onto the right path. Having an ally like Seria would be a great boost to her position as a member of the Board of Directors.

* * *

Misaki laid in the empty bathtub like a disposed sex toy. Why was she crying again? This wasn't rape. This was her letting that scum have his way with her in exchange for not letting Touma know about her secret.

The Devil appeared without her helmet and latex jumpsuit and was nice enough to wash her properly with water and soap so that she'll be clean enough for the next guy who wanted to use her.

Misaki wiped herself dry with a towel and put on her clothes, "Who's next?"

"I do find you disgusting, but not because of you sleeping around with men for benefits."

"Stop lying. Otherwise, you wouldn't have forced me to sleep with that scum."

"This whole time, it has always been about you. You're not afraid of Touma leaving you once he knows your secret. You're afraid of yourself leaving him once he knows your secret. And because you can't bear to leave him, you'd rather kill yourself instead. Have you thought about how devastated he'd feel if you actually did that?"

"Who is Touma to you anyway?"

The Devil put on her helmet and activated her latex jumpsuit from a wrist device, "To tell you the truth, I'm disgusted with myself as well. We're equally as selfish, but perhaps in a different way. You can call me Seria if you like. Kumokawa Seria."

Misaki fell on her knees as she came to a horrible realization. Has Seria been evaluating her character from the beginning? And if so, she had failed the evaluation spectacularly.

"Anyway," said Seria. "Say hello to your new owner, Ladylee Tangleroad."

Ladylee Tangleroad appeared from a misty portal while holding a blue glowing cube.

Misaki only saw fragments of a memory containing the Tesseract. She was now in the presence of the actual thing. Incredible. Beyond the blue glowing cube lies an energy source producing energy so pure that it must be from a higher power.

"If you cooperate with me, the power of the Tesseract can be yours too," said Ladylee.

* * *

Touma entered an abandoned warehouse where the Devil said she had Misaki. He looked around to see no one but a lady in a latex jumpsuit and a helmet that covered her face. She must be the Devil responsible for the chaos caused by Diffusion Ghost.

"Where's Misaki?" said Touma.

"First, a question. Would you rather be the one screwing people over, or the one being screwed over?"

Whoever behind the helmet must be either a female cyborg or merely sound like one using some voice altering technology. The Devil then adjusted her wrist device and played a video showing a naked Misaki trembling and panting with her face bright red.

"She chose to be the one being screwed over when she decided to play the hero and sent that warning message about Yuriko to you."

"What did you do to her?!"

"SX2-333, an aphrodisiac pill that turns even the most prudish into a complete slut."

Even though Misaki managed to keep herself from losing herself to the effects of that pill, she had no more strength left to stop that Aritomi Haruki guy from raping her.

She was a wonderful girl who would go all the way for a little girl she never met before. His little ball of sunshine that chased away the darkness and replaced it with a nice warm feeling. He was way past the point of being angry. It was like suffering from third-degree burns. The pain was so intense that it changed into a strange numbness instead.

"I once went down a dark path, but all of the violence and the... slaughtering, it was never personal. I did it to protect my parents from getting hurt."

"And your point?"

Touma picked up a metal bar, "I'll tell you now that what I'm about to do to you. I'm going to enjoy it. Very, very much."

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Yuriko only summoned black wings because of Gunha and also because she realized what she was really running away from. As for what exactly, I'll just leave it to your interpretation. Let's just say her ability don't quite match what she wants even though its a really powerful ability and that gaining absolute power is the only way left for her.

The "twist" of the story isn't exactly the Devil actually being Seria. You'll see in the next chapter what the "twist" is. It isn't something that would totally change the story though. Just an explanation to tie up some loose ends about the Devil.

I hope you liked the chapter. If you have any comments, you may leave them in the review box below.


	10. Before It All Falls Apart

Touma could remember the day he went down a dark path like it was only yesterday. People were getting more and more convinced that it was him who cursed everyone with misfortune just by being around them, but he technically had not committed any crimes in the eyes of the law, so they decided to take things into their hands.

Mum and Dad decided it would be nice to bring him to Lake Motosuko for a short camping trip. It was a quiet place. A place where those people thought would be perfect to assassinate them without a trace. They were wrong. Kamijou Touma wasn't your average eight year old boy defenseless against swords and arrows.

The bodies he dumped into Lake Motosuko that day served as a warning to the rest. No one except the most desperate and insane dared to mess with him and his family from then onwards.

This time, there will be no warning. After the Devil, he will move on to Aritomi Haruki and so on until he reaches the true mastermind who decided that raping Misaki was a good idea.

The Devil seemed content with dodging all his attacks like a slimy bitch. He won't let her bait him into getting frustrated and start making enough mistakes for her to take advantage of.

"You better not fucking stop, or this will be your end," said Touma.

"I could say the same for you."

Touma froze when he saw her helmet visor playing the video of Misaki being raped by that Aritomi Haruki monster. She pleaded for him to stop. When he refused, she begged God for forgiveness who conveniently ignored Misaki because of some fucked up excuse like 'I, God works in mysterious ways, so it's okay to do nothing'.

The Devil grabbed the metal bar away from him. Touma crushed the wrist device she was wearing before she sent him flying into a stack of crates. Her black latex jumpsuit faded away to reveal a dress singlet and jeans. The video on her helmet visor also stopped playing.

"Her only mistake was to not have enough power and influence in the Dark Side before attempting to play the hero. Of course, to have enough power and influence, you have to be the one screwing people over first."

There were only plastic wrappings inside the crates and nothing around him he could use as a weapon… wait, it might be slippery enough to be useful.

"So you raped Misaki because you wanted power and influence?"

"Yes."

She could only make sure to always keep a fair distance away from him with the metal bar in hand since she lost her black armor. Good. It gave him enough time to wrap the plastic wrapping around the top half of his shoes. To speed up, he would tiptoe. To stop, he would slam his heels down.

He zipped past the crates and rusty machinery. The Devil was fast, but he was faster. The plastic wrapping was slippery enough to give him a huge boost in movement speed.

Touma rammed her to a wall and kneed her in the groin as many times as he needed to stop her from moving.

Now that the Devil was reduced to a crawling mess, he methodically shattered her limbs with the metal pole just to make sure that she had no chance of fighting back or to escape.

"Let's see how your power and influence is going to save you now," said Touma.

He took off her helmet and saw a terribly familiar face staring at him in pain.

Touma dropped the helmet in shock, confusion, and tears, "It-It can't be… Seria-nee? But why? If you hate me, then come after me! Misaki is innocent!"

A girl with blonde twintails in an eccentric chequered clothing appeared from a misty portal while holding a blue glowing cube. An energy wave hurled Touma away from Seria. The girl was the CEO of Orbital Space Company, Ladylee Tangleroad.

"Get me out of here," said Seria.

Touma ran the hardest he could. His right hand seemed to be connected with that cube. Like it was resonating at the same frequency. Maybe he could somehow hijack that cube and used its power to stop them both from moving. But Seria disappeared into the misty portal with Ladylee before he could even try.

He slammed his fist on the ground in tears. Did she hate him so much to the point where explaining was too much of a bother?

* * *

Seria arrived at her personal mobile hospital in seconds thanks to Ladylee carrying her body through the misty portal.

Ladylee placed her into a coffin-like machine and slammed the lid shut.

Seria let out a sigh of relief as the machine did its job by injecting nano-machines into her body. The nano-machines would then morph into bone tissues and nerve cells to repair the damages done to her body enough for her to walk.

"What exactly is the Tesseract?" said Seria.

She heard about how the Tesseract was an unlimited source of pure energy but after investigating further through the information Misaki gave her about the Tesseract's location, it turned out to be something far more than that. It was also a cube that could manipulate space. She would have blasted the Diffusion Ghost core with hypersonic missiles to stop the chaos in the city caused by that imbecile Aritomi Haruki, but shutting down the core and having someone to retrieve it for her with the Tesseract was a far better option.

"I wish I knew too."

The Tesseract started blinking in Morse code.

_It's been bothering me for some time, but could you kindly tell Misaki that I'm not an intercessor before God?_

"Is it normal for it to talk to people in Morse code?"

"She does talk to people sometimes."

"She?"

"The Tesseract. It identifies itself as female."

Seria shot the Tesseract a weird glance as she got off the machine and limped towards a laptop placed on a table, "Alright, Miss Tesseract. What are you, exactly? An alien shaped like a box?"

No response? Fine. Keep your secrets then.

She deleted every backup videos she had of Misaki having sex with the PC cafe owner for money and transferred the last copy into a USB thumbdrive that she handed over to Ladylee. By sheer dumb luck, Ladylee found the Tesseract first. The price of getting Ladylee to shut down and retrieve the core was control over Misaki through that video.

"Just curious, but what use would you have for Shokuhou Misaki?" said Seria.

A mini-satellite covered in a blue aura gently landed on the ground beside Seria through a misty portal from above. This was the Diffusion Ghost's core that had already been shut down by Ladylee.

"That's none of your business."

"Very well."

Ladylee disappeared into a misty portal.

Everything the Devil did was just to set up an experiment for the Kiharas to see what would happen if Suzushina Yuriko goes all out against Sogiita Gunha. Not even that imbecile Aritomi Haruki knew that the true purpose of funding his Diffusion Ghost project was to create a possible excuse for Yuriko and Gunha to fight each other. Once the fight is over, he no longer has any value.

Seria switched on a screen. In any case, she really needed to get to a real hospital but why not see how Misaki would choose to do with that imbecile first?

* * *

Aritomi Haruki could not believe what he was seeing on his supercomputer. He lost control over Diffusion Ghost in an instant. Nothing he typed into the supercomputer was working. Did someone tamper with the core before sending it up to the Moon?! No, that's impossible. His core was so tamper-proof that not even he could make changes to the core once he set the defenses in place.

Haruki slumped back in his chair, "How…?"

Ladylee Tangleroad appeared from a misty portal with Misaki.

"Magic," said Ladylee.

A blue aura paralyzed him. His clothes vanished and his legs were forced apart. What kind of technology was that? He had never heard about a glowing blue cube that could telekinetically control people and make things disappear.

"And with the necessary knowledge to hack into machines as well," said Misaki.

She was wearing a similar latex jumpsuit as that Devil and jammed the gun muzzle into his urethra.

"What do you want from me?! I'll do anything! Please!" said Haruki.

"I've been raped three times. Touma dealt with the first guy for me. I don't know what happened to the second guy. I'm glad that for the third guy, I can finally do something about him myself."

"But you-"

Misaki placed a finger on his lips forced shut by the blue aura, "Be quiet. The fun is about to begin."

* * *

Misaki was pleased to see the room dyed in a beautiful shade of red. She giggled as she dug out intestines from that bespectacled monster's corpse and stuffed it into his mouth. Since she already blew his penis to bits, intestines will have to do.

People say that revenge is hollow. Perhaps there is some truth to it. There was only so much she could do before it gets pointlessly stupid.

Ladylee sighed, "I'm actually a very busy person, so could you just hurry up already."

"You can leave first if you want."

Ladylee disappeared into a misty portal.

Misaki dug an eyeball out from the corpse and tossed it at the supercomputer screen. She was working for Ladylee now because Seria sold that video to Ladylee. Seria was done with her so it wasn't surprising for Seria to do that.

She caressed the blue gem on her bracelet. It wasn't that bad working for Ladylee when she could indirectly wield the power of the Tesseract through the gem. Not needing to have sex with random men was another plus point. Still, the Tesseract wasn't responding to her for some reason. Sending telepathic messages didn't work as well, whether be it the actual physical cube or the gem she was holding. Maybe it was because the Tesseract was a form of higher power, so she needed to fulfill some special requirements for it to respond to her.

"Do you think that I deserve happiness after all this?"

Why bother asking anyway. It's not like the Tesseract would give her an answer.

"Probably not, right? I know that myself very well."

"She has been trying to reply to you the whole time through Morse Code and you didn't even realize it," said Seria through the supercomputer.

"Who's she?"

"The Tesseract. It identifies itself as female and wants to tell you that she isn't an intercessor before God."

Seria was right. The blue gem wasn't blinking randomly. It was blinking in Morse Code saying that since the idea people have of God was flawed, it cannot possibly be an intercessor before God.

Before Misaki could thank Seria, Seria disconnected from the supercomputer. She was alone with the Tesseract again.

"What are you then?" said Misaki.

_It is difficult to explain, but for you I will try. Let's start with Revelation 22:13. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End._

The God that every Christians believed in is actually the personification of Time and Space. The Tesseract, or to be more accurate, the being communicating to her through Morse Code is the personification of Space. Without Time, there is no Space and vice versa. Time represented the masculine qualities reflected in the Old Testament while Space represented the feminine qualities reflected in the New Testament. Therefore, the being cannot possibly be an intercessor of God when she is half of God herself.

Misaki laughed at the irony of wielding the power of the same God who abandoned her a long time ago. What happened? Wasn't God supposed to be all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good? Why was He or She pathetically trying to make amends now through the Tesseract?

She hurled the bracelet through the supercomputer screen in tears. So what if she had the power to easily tear people apart or summon an impenetrable barrier? Can it reverse time and undo all of the tragedy that happened to her? It was too late for the Tesseract to change anything now! Too fucking late!

The bracelet appeared on her wrist again.

_I'm sorry that the God you believed in was a lie. We're actually not as all-powerful nor all-knowing as you think we are._

"Don't be."

She had already seen through the lie a long time ago. It's just that there were no other option than to believe in a lie and hope for a miracle.

* * *

Noukan lit up a cigar as he watched Yuiitsu go through the findings like an excited child who had received exactly what she wanted for Christmas. While he never once doubted Seria's capabilities, it was still impressive that she actually pulled it off. Yuriko did end up fighting Gunha because of the Diffusion Ghost incident. The distortion of her AIM field when she summoned those black wings turned out to be excellent research material for Fuse Kazakiri.

"I expected more from Shokuhou Misaki, but maintaining an illusion for two minutes is pretty impressive for a first timer," said Yuiitsu.

Being able to cast illusions on people was the first step for Misaki to start learning how to use her ability the right way, but the way Yuiitsu chose to go about improving that part of Misaki's ability was rather distasteful. There was no need to ask Seria to put Misaki in a situation where if she fails to maintain the illusion that she was having sex with Aritomi Haruki using her ability, she would have to actually have sex with him. There were still a lot of bad habits Yuiitsu had to unlearn from her time with the other Kiharas.

He grabbed a phone with his metallic extensions. There was a vacant position in the Board of Director for quite a while and now he had finally found someone suitable to fill that position up.

* * *

Touma wasn't sure if he could convince Yuriko to leave the facility and return to school. After a fight with a guy named Sogiita Gunha, she decided that she should go back to her old life isolated from the outside world. It took two days before Yuriko agreed to see him, and only him. Rikou didn't show it, but she must be devastated that Yuriko still refused to see her even once.

The room Yuriko stayed in was like a prison cell with television and her favorite video games.

"Is it wrong to be selfish for once?" said Yuriko.

"All I know is that if you don't leave this facility, Rikou might stop crying herself to sleep every night and end her misery by jumping off a building."

"Of all people, you should understand why I choose to remain here."

"Just because I understand doesn't mean that you're right."

Touma realized why Yuriko chose to see him, a guy whom she knew for a few months instead of Rikou, her best friend whom she knew for close to two years. All Yuriko wanted was for him to justify her actions. That she had no choice but to leave Rikou regardless of how Rikou or anyone else would feel about it.

Shockwaves tore the television apart. Yuriko was trembling, almost to the point of tears.

"Get lost, I don't want to see you ever again," said Yuriko.

Touma clenched his fists, "If I have to punch some sense into you, so be it."

Black wings erupted from Yuriko's back. The video game cases were floating beside her, ready to be fired at him in an instant. This wasn't Yuriko facing him anymore. This was a cold blooded murderous demon who would tear down the building they were in if that's what it takes to kill him. He let his emotions get the better of him and screwed everything up by pushing Yuriko too far.

"Fine," said Touma. "Do whatever you like then."

He left the facility as a failure and punched a nearby wind turbine. He felt so fucking useless. His right hand had caused nothing but trouble. Even if he got his right hand fixed by Academy City, he was still powerless to stop the tragedies around him from happening nor fix the mess he created before he entered Academy City. Maybe if he hadn't cursed Seria's father with misfortune, she wouldn't need power and influence to protect Maria from their father's enemies. It was indirectly his fault that Seria had to do this to Misaki.

Misaki said she was busy with some experiment and would only be available after next week. When he asked for more details, she refused to explain any further than 'busy with some experiment' because she signed a non-disclosure agreement with the company. She probably wanted some time alone after what she has been through.

"Hey, what's the matter?" said Arisa.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"You just left a dent into the wind turbine and you call that nothing?"

Touma sighed, "Let's not talk about it. How about you? Are you ready for the concert?"

"More or less. All that's left is for her to leave me alone."

"Her?"

Arisa pointed to a blonde woman wearing goggles on her head and a maid uniform similar to Maika and Maria.

"Come with me. I won't ask twice," said the blonde woman.

"Why can't you just pretend that I never existed?" said Arisa.

"If you won't come with me willingly, then you leave me no choice but to use force."

Touma stepped in front of Arisa, "If you want to get to her, then you'd have to go through me first."

There was a lot he didn't understand but he wasn't going to let anyone take away Arisa's dream of finally becoming a singer recognized by everyone.

"Very well," said the blonde woman.

She was so fast it was like she disappeared and reappeared in front of him. He managed to catch that woman's fist before it reached his face but she tossed him aside like a rag doll.

The blonde woman introduced herself as Silvia, a Saint just like Arisa. Saints were people who were blessed with enormous powers since birth. Yet Arisa chose to waste her gifts as a Saint to become a singer.

Touma clenched his fists, "And what's so wrong about being a singer anyway?"

"This is a fight you won't win."

"It's not about winning or losing. It's about me taking you on right here and now."

It was obvious that he had no chance of winning when his opponent could toss him aside like a rag doll without breaking a sweat. He just wanted to make himself feel better because giving up was a painful reminder that he was indeed powerless to change anything.

"Enough," said Arisa. "This is between me and her."

She clasped her hands together in a prayer. There was a glow around her which faded when she fell unconscious.

"You truly are the worst Saint ever," said Silvia.

Several spider mechs surrounded them. A black armoured figure emerged from a mech and fired blue beams from the bracelet it was wearing at Silvia.

Silvia dodged the blue beams and leapt away into the night sky.

The figure revealed itself to be Misaki when she took off her helmet and put it on Arisa. The helmet visor was displaying Arisa's vital signs and noted that her vitals were stable and she should awake at any moment.

"What's going on? Why are you in… that?"

"I signed a non-disclosure agreement, remember?"

Touma smiled, "Right."

He reached for her face to tease her, but a blue barrier appeared to stop his hand from advancing any further. He could feel the same resonance… it was like the source of that barrier was the same glowing blue cube that Ladylee Tangleroad was holding. He could now see why Ladylee would want Misaki to sign a non-disclosure agreement. That cube was a miracle technology that could not only be used as a weapon, but also be used to teleport people away. Even though he had a terrible feeling about relying on that power within his right hand, if push comes to shove, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Whatever that cube was, it was beyond Imagine Breaker. Only IT has a chance against the cube.

Misaki grinned, "You're not allowed to touch me until next week. Till then, feel free to touch yourself if you can't hold it in anymore."

She hopped into a spider mech and left the area with the rest of the mechs.

Next week, then. That was how long she wanted to get over the traumatic incident that happened to her. After that, he should really start fixing the issues between him and Seria.

* * *

Touma placed an unconscious Arisa onto Shiage's bed. Shiage was now living with Rikou at Yuriko's apartment so there was a spare bed for Arisa if she wanted to stay the night here.

Arisa finally woke up after an hour or so.

"Are you alright?" said Touma.

"Just a side effect of using magic as an esper. Don't worry about it."

Arisa explained that using magic isn't that different from espers using their abilities, but espers cannot use magic without severely injuring themselves. However, she is also a Saint so even if she went through the Power Development Program and became an esper, she could still use a certain kind of magic without hurting herself. The magic she used just now was her calling upon a miracle to get them out of this tricky situation. Since she only fell unconscious for an hour or so, her magic only made small "adjustments" to ensure that the miracle happens. The larger the "adjustments", the longer she would fall unconscious, which was why she hasn't become a god yet.

"What's up between you and Silvia anyway?"

"It's complicated."

There was a knock on the door.

"I just want to talk," said Silvia. "If I really wanted to take her by force, I wouldn't be knocking."

Touma reluctantly opened the door to let Silvia inside. She did have a point, but who knows what tricks she had up her sleeves as a Saint.

"Perhaps you could start by telling me why you're after Arisa."

"I'm not after her. I just needed her help."

Arisa sipped from a glass of water, "You could've asked nicely."

"I have no need to be nice to someone who nearly caused a war between the Science and Magic side."

"So it's my fault now? Just because I'm a Saint and a British citizen doesn't mean I must serve the crown as a Royal Maid. If the crown had agreed to my request, I wouldn't have to resort to such drastic measures."

Touma told the both of them to calm down. Yes, it was a big deal that a Saint like Arisa would choose to become an esper just to get rid of her Saint powers and not serve as a Royal Maid anymore to pursue her dreams of being a singer. And yes, it was also pretty selfish of Arisa not to consider the bigger picture by getting rid of her Saint powers through Academy City. But there was no point arguing over something that has already happened.

Silvia cleared her throat, "Anyway, I'm here because of Ladylee Tangleroad. It's not a coincidence that she picked Arisa for the upcoming concert at the Endymion Space Tower."

"What use would I have for her? I've lost most of my Saint powers and my ability to call upon a miracle isn't exactly a get out of jail free card."

"But she has the Tesseract."

"Tesse… what?"

"Are you talking about the glowing blue cube that Ladylee has?" said Touma.

"Correct," said Silvia.

The Tesseract was actually something like a grimoire and not a miracle technology. It contained knowledge too pure for any human mind to handle and powerful 'spells' that gave its wielder the ability to manipulate space. Unlike grimoires, the Tesseract is only interested in spreading relevant parts of its knowledge to people it thinks should have. Or so Ollerus says. Right now, Ollerus was monitoring Ladylee to see what Ladylee was up to with the Tesseract. So far there was nothing noteworthy, but Ladylee might be planning something big if she had built a space elevator. Apparently, structures as large as the space elevator gain magical significance just by existing.

"Wait, you know Ollerus?" said Touma.

"Yes, I'm the other idiot who sent Misaki to hell because I couldn't be arsed to do a more detailed background check."

"Watch your language, young lady," said Arisa in a posh accent.

"Oh just shut your bloody mouth, you cunt."

Arisa mockingly covered her mouth in shock, "A British Royal Maid saying the c-word?! What happened to your manners?"

Touma sighed. Maybe the discussion about a plan to deal with Ladylee would have to wait until tomorrow morning.

* * *

Misaki stood at the second level of a shopping mall observing Arisa doing a mini concert below. Her job now was to make sure Arisa gets to the Space Elevator alive. It wasn't exactly a easy job, but the power of the Tesseract hadn't disappointed her so far in killing magicians trying to capture Arisa although the Tesseract wasn't responding to her questions anymore. Like it was feeling guilty of letting her go through so much horrible things even though she deserved none of it. She kind of promised Touma not to kill people anymore and yet she had killed dozens through the bracelet she was wearing. At this point, she was just lying to herself that it's okay if Touma doesn't know how low she had fallen.

Silvia still wore goggles on her head and the same maid uniform.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to apologize to you sooner. I was busy with... issues in Britain," said Silvia.

"It's not your fault. No one could have expected that they would turn out to be monsters."

Thinking back, she was a monster herself. A filthy monster who not only wanted money to fuck that Hiroshi Goro monster over, but also money for her own selfish reasons like buying ice cream from a high end supermarket.

"Are you here to capture Arisa like the others?"

From her communication headset, Ladylee said that there was an intruder magician at the underground level and asked her to go and deal with him immediately.

"We may be on opposing sides, but I promise you I'll keep Arisa safe from the other magicians coming after her today," said Silvia.

Misaki headed to the underground level. Come to think of it, Silvia was serious on capturing Arisa, she would have crushed all of her spider mechs yesterday night instead of running away. But if she had to fight Silvia, she might actually win with the Tesseract. She was no longer the meek little Misaki who needed saving from the Mafia or anyone else.

The magician was about twice her height with a barcode tattoo underneath his eye.

"Don't you know that smoking isn't allowed here?" said Misaki.

"I know."

The magician crushed the lit cigarette underneath his foot and swung a flame sword towards Misaki.

She summoned a blue barrier that blocked the sword from advancing any further and shattered it apart into tiny droplets of fire that rained down everywhere. No attacks will ever reach her and nor survive being ripped apart right down to its last atom.

Misaki casually stepped through the flame pillars that the barcode magician was desperately summoning to stop her from reaching him. Once she does, it's game over. If she had even more control over the Tesseract, she could simply rip him apart from a distance. A blazing humanoid mass was slowing her down by rapidly regenerating itself. Fine, it was time to increase her output power.

She pulled out a sci-fi like phaser gun from her bracelet and blasted that mass away. Now there was nothing between her and him.

"Any last words?" said Misaki.

If she was willing to put herself in a vulnerable position where any man could do whatever they wanted with her just to protect a stupid secret, breaking a promise not to kill people was child's play.

"It's checkmate for you."

A nun in a white habit appeared in front of her. There was an eerie orange glow around her and her irises were replaced with hexagons.

"Analysis complete. Using a custom spell derived from the 103,000 grimoires, I will now proceed to retrieve the Tesseract."

The nun started singing.

"What the?!"

Misaki was only indirectly wielding the power of Tesseract through the bracelet she was wearing, but that nun somehow managed to hack into her connection with the bracelet. No! She cannot let that nun wrest control over the Tesseract from her!

The ground shook violently as the blue energy waves knocked the barcode magician unconscious. It was a fierce mental tug of war, but eventually the nun emerged as the winner. The Tesseract had been pulled out of the bracelet. It was only a matter of time before the Tesseract would be fully taken over by the nun. Was this it? Just when she was so close to finally living a worry-free life with Touma? If she doesn't start winning the Tesseract back from the nun, Ladylee is going to expose that video to the whole world!

Misaki gritted her teeth as the tears fell from her cheeks, "God, if you can hear me, my life has been a complete mess ever since my mum died. So for once, could you let me have a happy ending?"

What was she even doing? Didn't the Tesseract tell her that the God she believed in was a lie? It's not like a miracle-

There were rapid footsteps from behind.

It was Touma.

"Why are you here…?"

"You wanted a happy ending, right? Then shoot my right hand before that nun gets away with the Tesseract!"

Misaki still had some control over the Tesseract. Enough to blow Touma's right hand away.

Eight dragons burst out of Touma, but there was an invisible force holding them still. She could also feel the presence of IT, a separate entity from that invisible force. That invisible force was the core that ensured the dragons and IT would work together as one cohesive unit. The power emitted by that force felt so watered down that its actual power was definitely more than enough to crush an entire planet with ease. Just what exactly was that... intricate system powered by a super nuclear bomb inside of him?

The Tesseract had stopped moving. She couldn't see it, but that invisible force was definitely doing something about that nun.

"Warning: Chapter 6, Verse 36. Integrity of the custom spell has been compromised. Using the 103,000 grimoires to determine an appropriate countermeasure… failed," said the nun.

The hexagons in the nun's eyes flickered as the eerie orange aura faded away. The Tesseract flew back into the bracelet and the nun fell unconscious.

That invisible force dragged the dragons and IT back into Touma's right arm that had magically regenerated on its own.

Misaki hugged a barely conscious Touma. She didn't care if he was bothered by the tears that was dripping on his face. He was just making things worse by being so nice to her. The truth is, she never deserved all of his kindness in the first place.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Trust me, Seria was just going easy on Touma. Perhaps too easy on him.

By the way, there's only one more chapter before this story comes to an end. Technically, this is only the halfway point of the overall story, but since the second half doesn't talk about mature themes such as rape or what not and changes focus to Touma, I'll mark this as complete and create a sequel with a T rating.

Anyway, hope you liked the chapter and if you have any comments feel free to leave them below.


	11. And It All Comes Tumbling Down

**Author's Note:**

Added more scenes in Chapter 9 and 10 to fix the pacing issues. Previously, the pacing was too fast so I've added more scenes to slow it down.

* * *

Arisa looked around the crowd and was glad that everyone was somehow okay. It was a miracle that none of the debris struck anybody. A miracle created by her of course.

"How long was I out?" said Arisa.

Silvia made her long bundle of ropes disappear into thin air like a casual magic trick, "If you still had your Saint abilities, you could've saved even more people than the crowd around you just by casting a simple barrier spell."

Arisa rolled her eyes, "Are you seriously going to harp on this each time we meet?"

"Just the sight of you pisses me off, so yes. I've made it my personal duty to remind you of your selfishness each time we meet."

Even though she didn't like how Silvia would act like a petty bitch who just couldn't let go of the past, she did violate the Magic-Science treaty by choosing to be an esper and since she was also a Saint, the violation was on a level equivalent to the great magician Aleister Crowley who chose to abandon magic for science. There was no war only because they failed to mass produce Saints despite having her DNA. The magic side was actually pleased to see that science failed to recreate a miracle of God and so she was finally left alone to pursue her music career in peace… until today. Maybe it was karma that something had to happen just when she had a career breakthrough because of her being selected as the lead singer for the opening concert at the Endymion Space Elevator.

Arisa sighed. The guilt wouldn't go away. She liked jazz but chose to play pop music because pop music would make more people happy. It turned out to be a feeble attempt in trying to make herself feel better. While music can lift one's mood, it surely cannot save one from being crushed to death by a falling debris. She was indeed selfish. Selfish enough to almost cause a war and give up being a hero just to pursue her dreams of becoming a musician.

She fell into a misty portal below and found herself paralysed by a blue aura.

Standing in front of her was Ladylee Tangleroad with the blue glowing cube known as the Tesse-something in hand. There were complex magic circles all over the place. From a glass panel she could see the night sky filled with stars. Wait a second, wasn't it afternoon just moments ago? And that blue globe floating in the middle of nowhere among the stars looked awfully familiar… Earth?!

"Welcome to outer space where the laws of conventional magic on Earth no longer applies here, Meigo Arisa," said Ladylee.

* * *

Misaki left the hospital as soon as she saw Touma lying awake in his usual room. And to think that it took only one day before he was back in that room. Touma can say all he wants about being hospitalized the previous time because of the crazy people under the influence of Diffusion Ghost firing lasers all over the place. She knew it was really because he got into a fight with his dear Seria-nee. At least Seria had the decency to spin the whole story such that she was the victim who Seria chose to punish by sending that bespectacled monster to rape her because she attempted to stop Diffusion Ghost.

The lack of people annoyed her. A magician must have set up a people-clearing field. Ah, just when she needed more Bufferin for the headaches that won't go away. How many more people must she kill before her mind can finally shrug off the guilt and stop the headaches?

Something bounced off the blue aura that now surrounded her. The same blue aura also held the magician firmly in place.

"Just what kind of magic are you using?!" said the magician.

"Mathematics."

Ladylee explained a little about magic to her. The most common way of using magic was to use religion as a base to cast spells. However, if one knows the religion behind the spells well enough, the spells can be negated or used against its caster.

"Rubbish. That's not magic at all."

To be specific, she was using linear algebra to manipulate the space between two points such as point A being the magician's head and point B being a small area of the asphalt they were standing on. Both point A and B can be defined as vectors which are then transformed with linear algebra. Come to think of it, wasn't this how esper abilities worked? Using logic as a base to cast 'spells' instead of religion.

A headless corpse collapsed in a pool of blood with the head placed exactly at a point C near a wind turbine which was the result of the transformed vectors of both point A and B. If she had taken more Bufferin beforehand, she might have bothered asking the magician who he was. Anyway, it was tiring and pointless if she had to ask every magician the same question before crushing them like ants.

Misaki entered a misty portal and arrived at a room filled with magic circles. This must be outer space if she could see Earth from a distance through the glass panels around her.

Ladylee handed an unconscious Arisa tied up with a rope to her, "Take care of her while I go deal with a troublesome guest."

"Since you have Arisa already, does that mean I'm free now?"

A part of her wanted this to be true, but she knew better. No one gives up power over someone that easily.

Ladylee took the bracelet away and handed her the actual Tesseract in exchange. The glowing blue cube was now in her hands.

"In exactly 4 hours, a computer I've hidden somewhere in Europe will spread your video across the Internet," said Ladylee. "If Arisa refuses to activate the circle with her miracle, you may activate it manually yourself with the Tesseract. I won't die if you activate it manually, but Europe and a third of North America will still be destroyed. With that, your video will be permanently destroyed."

Misaki gripped the Tesseract with trembling hands. She was now technically free. Nothing was stopping her from activating the circles and regain her freedom, yet she couldn't form the words needed to do so. She had killed so many people already, does a billion people more really matter at this point?

"If Arisa activates the circles with her miracle instead, no one will die except you? And what about that video? How are you going to stop it from spreading when you're dead?!"

"Don't be silly, I will of course destroy the computer before I drop dead. The effect of the circles isn't instantaneous. And yes, no one except me will die if Arisa activates the circles with her miracle. If you don't like the idea of a billion people dying, do your best to convince Arisa."

Ladylee winked before disappearing into a misty portal.

Misaki jolted Arisa awake with an energy wave from the Tesseract. Because she was weak and stupid, she chose not to take the easy way out by destroying Europe and a third of North America right this moment.

* * *

Rikou wrapped herself in a blanket as she sat on the sofa watching TV. It was obvious why Yuriko chose to see Touma instead of her. All Yuriko wanted was a yes-man to justify that what she was doing was right and Touma having a similar past as her seemed like the perfect candidate. Good for Touma calling out Yuriko's bullshit, even if that only made things worse. Maybe now instead of one year, Yuriko might decide to take three years before reemerging into society.

She switched to the news channel out of boredom. The only thing remotely interesting was Magical Girl Kanamin in about two hours later.

Breaking news. Kumokawa Seria had been promoted as a new member of the Board of Directors.

It wasn't fair how scumbags like Seria ended up getting rewarded while good people like Yuriko and Misaki had to suffer because of Seria. What a shitty world. Why do people still pray to God when it was clear that if God actually exists, he or she doesn't give a damn about this world.

Rikou had the urge to dial that number she saved in her smartphone. It was a number that could point her in the right direction to take down Seria. For Shiage's sake, she will pretend that the number never existed. She shouldn't let Shiage worry about her too much again.

If God actually exists, now is the time he or she should start doing their job in punishing the bad people like Seria.

* * *

If Ladylee could turn back time, she would have thrown away the Ambrosia given to her by a dying crusader instead of foolishly eating it. Now, even teleporting herself into the Sun's core wasn't enough to kill her.

The view of Earth from the Moon was just as beautiful as always. After living for a thousand years, beauty was something she thought no longer existed. Also, she was finally given a chance to end her life through the Tesseract. Mistress Death was the true beauty she thought no longer existed after becoming immortal.

Finally, the troublesome guest reveals himself. The one who almost became a Magic God, Ollerus.

"No matter how clever your magic circles are, it is ultimately based on Idol Theory, the same kind of magic we all use back on Earth," said Ollerus.

"But how long would it take you to destroy the circles? A month? Or a decade?"

"Three hours."

Ladylee smirked, "I'm not sure if you're bullshitting me or just being delusional. Are you telling me that you've figured out the exact kind of magic behind those circles?"

All magic are based around a certain ideological premise. For example, magic based on Christaintity would most probably be derived from specific lines from the Bible, or from the nature of God, angels and demons as stated in the Bible. There is an ideological premise behind the Tesseract that supposedly no one knows about which can be exploited with Idol Theory. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum had enough grimoires to brute force an exploit and it was sheer dumb luck that Kamijou Touma appeared to stop Index.

"My power Hlidskjalf is similar to those circles you've created. Incomprehensible, yet ultimately based on Idol Theory. You need Arisa's miracle because you lack a certain kind of mana to properly activate those circles."

"Try anything funny and I'll activate the circle as it is."

The sheer scale of the Space Elevator acting as a conduit to activate the circles was enough to wipe out a continent of her choice. But the circles were just a backup plan. The true plan was to gather Kamijou Touma, Shokuhou Misaki and Meigo Arisa in one place. Once they're all in position, she will finally die for sure. At first she didn't understand why was Touma a necessary piece until she was shown what the true nature of that thing within his right hand was.

* * *

Touma looked at his right hand as he made his way back to his dormitory room. For a guy like him who faces nothing but misfortune most of the time, his right hand doing a good job at properly sealing IT and the dragons back within it again was a sweet relief. On hindsight, he really should've tried using Imagine Breaker first instead of jumping to rely on IT and the dragons to save the day. Why they were being sealed up in the first place anyway? Until the memories of his past lives returns, that shall remain as an unanswered question.

He opened the door to see Silvia, a nun, and a red-haired guy seated in his room uninvited. Was it even possible to sue them for trespassing when one of them had enough power to challenge an army?

The nun introduced herself as Index while the tall guy with red hair was Stiyl Magnus. They were both magicians tasked by their organization to retrieve the Tesseract for further investigation. Not even they knew what exactly was the Tesseract but Index managed to confirm that its nature was indeed close to an original grimoire like what Silvia said.

"And why are you guys in my room again?" said Touma.

"Hand over the Tesseract," said Stiyl who was about to light up a cigarette but was stopped by Index in time. Thanks for being considerate, Index.

"I don't have it."

His memories after blasting his arm off with Misaki's gun to unleash IT and the dragons were blurry but he remembered only stopping Index from taking the Tesseract away. He certainly wasn't hiding the Tesseract or anything.

"More importantly, what's with your right hand? I've never seen anything like it before," said Index.

"Trust me, I'd like to know the answer to that as well," said Touma.

Ollerus appeared from a burst of yellow light.

"Silvia, we need to go now. And you as well, Kamijou Touma," said Ollerus.

Ladylee had captured Arisa and was planning to use Arisa to activate an array of magical circles that would kill Ladylee along with Europe and a third of North America. Ladylee was an immortal who had lived for a thousand years and wanted so badly to die that she didn't care if close to a billion people will die as well. Also, Ollerus also confirmed that Ladylee still had the Tesseract. Thank god, now at least he didn't have to fight that Stiyl guy and Index over something he never had in the first place.

Index pouted, "I can be of help as well. Don't you dare underestimate a walking library of 103,000 grimoires."

"Necessarius won't approve of you going up to outer space and besides, we have an idiot who almost became a Magic God. I'm sure we'll do fine without you," said Silvia.

"She's right, you know," said Stiyl. "Necessarius won't take the risk of letting you go into outer space unless there's no other choice. By the way, Silvia, even though you don't belong to Necessarius, you're still a British Royal Maid. If you-"

"You don't have to remind me what my responsibilities are."

Touma left the room with Silvia and Ollerus. That Stiyl sure was a piece of shit judging from his attitude. Index must be a true nun for being able to tolerate such a shitty partner.

Ollerus set up a barrier around them outside the dormitory building to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I have a letter for you, Kamijou Touma," said Ollerus.

The letter was an apology letter from Seria for blackmailing Misaki with a video of Misaki prostituting her body. This was the real reason why Misaki sent Yukika to her death. Because Seria blackmailed Misaki to do so. Yet if Seria could turn back the clock, she said she would still do the same thing because she would rather be the one screwing people over than be the one being screwed over.

Touma crushed the letter into a ball, "Where's Seria?"

He had enough of Seria-nee hiding in the shadows like a coward. At least apologize in person, fuck.

"I don't know. Ladylee was the one who passed me the letter. She's also the one blackmailing Misaki now. Anyway, the most important thing is to defuse the situation."

"Defuse what?"

The truth was that Misaki had the Tesseract now, not Ladylee. Ladylee had hidden a computer somewhere in Europe that would release Misaki's video in 4 hours. Misaki knows that, and Misaki has the Tesseract that could also activate the array of magical circles which will conveniently destroy Europe and a third of North America. The reason why Misaki hasn't activated the circles must be because of her still hesitating if she should kill a billion people to protect her secret from being exposed to the world. So Misaki was the backup plan to activate the circles if Arisa refuses to do it.

"Can't we just search for the computer within 4 hours?"

"If that was possible, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"What do you propose we do then?"

Silvia sighed, "Take the Tesseract away from her and let the video be exposed to the world? I don't know any other better way than this."

"And pretend we know nothing about the video. Just focus on grabbing the Tesseract and destroying the magic circles," said Touma.

This was the dignity they should at least give Misaki. The power within his right hand might be able to provide a third option, but it was hard to say. This was a power he barely understood beyond being able to take the Tesseract away from Misaki if he wanted.

"All right, we shall go with that," said Ollerus.

Ollerus tried to teleport him and Silvia to the space elevator but his right hand kept negating the teleportation process.

"Don't worry," said Silvia with a grin, "I know a guy who can get you a ride up the space elevator."

* * *

Misaki gulped down a handful of Bufferin pills from a bottle and hurled the bottle to the ground, "What do you mean by you can't activate those circles with your miracle ability?!"

She had told Arisa that if Arisa won't activate those circles with her miracle ability, she would activate the circles herself and kill a billion people with it because she didn't have Arisa's miracle ability.

"I don't get to choose when to activate it, and even if I did, I can't control the result. What a miracle is to me may be different from what a miracle is to you," said Arisa as she struggled to break free from the ropes.

If Arisa truly had an ability to create miracles, there was no reason why Arisa couldn't just miraculously break free of the ropes and teleport herself back to Earth. Heck, Arisa should have become a god by now. Why was she still human? Was she a god pretending to be human out of boredom? Don't be stupid, the only logical explanation was that Arisa's miracle ability had limitations.

"One billion people are going to die if you don't activate the circles with your miracle ability, so think of something!"

Misaki retreated to a corner, clutching the Tesseract with trembling hands.

"Tell me where Ladylee hiding my videos, please?" whispered Misaki.

She prayed, and prayed again for a response from the Tesseract. The guilt of destroying a billion lives to protect a stupid secret was not something she could endure for the rest of her life.

No response.

Even as her tears dripped onto the Tesseract, there was still no response. Perhaps she was asking too much from a higher power who is under no obligation to save a lowly life-form such as herself.

Misaki felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" said Arisa.

Arisa had somehow broke free from the ropes.

"Yeah."

Misaki couldn't be bothered with Arisa anymore. The headaches were dull now, and her heart comfortably numb to the pain. Sluts like her don't deserve happiness no matter how hard they try to fight for one. Only a crushing sense of despair awaits at the end.

"I can actually activate the circles, but I'm afraid I'll never wake up again," said Arisa. "It's a side effect you see. The more 'adjustments' needed to make the miracle happen, the longer I fall unconscious. I'm sorry if I come across as selfish, but I still want to pursue my dream of being a musician."

Misaki snapped her fingers and the magic circles vanished.

What Seria said rang in her mind.

_This whole time, it has always been about you. You're not afraid of Touma leaving you once he knows your secret. You're afraid of yourself leaving him once he knows your secret. And because you can't bear to leave him, you'd rather kill yourself instead. Have you thought about how devastated he'd feel if you actually did that?_

Misaki chuckled, "I'm also a rather selfish person myself."

"I don't understand. You destroyed the circles, no? I thought that was very selfless of you."

"Not really."

When she saw Touma and didn't feel anything other than being aware of his presence, she knew she had already made up her mind.

A blue barrier prevented Touma from coming any closer to her. Nothing he says will also reach her. Only what she says will reach him. This was how utterly selfish she had become.

"There's something I want to tell you, Touma. I used to prostitute my body for money. I didn't do it for some noble reason like earning money for my sick mother or something. I just wanted to eat my favorite ice cream, buy nice clothes, makeup, and expensive educational courses that would benefit me. See, it's always been about me."

Touma was punching the barrier while shouting something she couldn't and didn't want to hear at all. She had already made up her mind, so there was no point in hearing what Touma has to say about it.

After some intense back and forth between Arisa and Touma, Arisa ripped Touma's right arm off.

Blue tendrils extended from the barrier and slapped Arisa unconscious.

Touma didn't seem to be in control of the eight dragons, IT and an invisible force binding those two together as a cohesive unit. What a pity. If he was in control, they could have fought as equals. Now, he was a frustrated baby that needed to be restrained before he accidentally hurts himself even further.

Misaki grabbed the 'cohesive unit' with the blue tendrils and stuffed them back into the severed right arm. The blue tendrils then pressed the severed right arm to Touma's shoulder and it magically reconnected like it was never separated from his body in the first place. Good. Less work for her.

"You deserve better than a slut, Touma. But don't worry, this slut will keep on praying for your happiness no matter where she may be."

Misaki shredded her body right down to its last atom and scattered them across the universe. That way, not even the most powerful magic can bring her back to life.

* * *

Touma repeatedly slammed his fists on the ground. This was the one tragedy he wanted so much to stop it from happening, yet how could he possibly do so when he couldn't even understand the pain she's been through.

He loved how Misaki could still keep on smiling despite all the horrible things that had happened to her. A little ball of sunshine that won't let the darkness corrupt its light. But Misaki was still human, and like what all humans do when they reach a breaking point, she chose to end her life.

Ladylee appeared from a misty portal and picked up the Tesseract.

"I know a way to bring Shokuhou Misaki back to life."

There are six fundamental aspects that makes up the universe. Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Time and Mind. The essence of each fundamental aspect were forged into existence as gems by its respective personification.

"Get to the point."

"If merely possessing one of those gems like the Tesseract is enough to turn someone into a demigod, wouldn't three be enough to become an actual god?" said Ladylee. "Kamijou Touma, within your right hand is the Reality Gem. The Tesseract is actually a container for the Space Gem. If you want to bring someone back to life, you'd also need the Soul Gem. But, you also need to be knowledgeable enough to properly wield them and get the result you want. I suppose if a… miracle were to happen, everything will work out the way you want it to be."

"Or the way you want it to be, Ladylee Tangleroad. What is it that you really want?"

He could see the whole picture now. Ladylee was really trying to manipulate Misaki into killing herself and then conveniently offer a 'solution' that could bring Misaki back to life. Just to be extra sure that he would accept Ladylee's 'solution', Ladylee also teleported Ollerus and Silvia somewhere else away from him while on the way up towards the last level of the Space Elevator so that they can't influence him from choosing otherwise.

"All you have to do is use the Soul Gem and regardless of what you do with it, Mistress Death will be able to descend upon this plane of existence and grant me death."

Mistress Death was the personification of Soul who has power over life and death. However, she was limited by the five other personifications because the actions of one personification to directly influence the world must be approved by a majority vote. This was why Mistress Death came up with a roundabout way that was approved by a majority vote to grant Ladylee death.

"How about I use the Soul Gem to keep you alive for eternity."

Ladylee burst into laughter, "Were you even listening? Mistress Death forged the Soul Gem herself. You can't use the Soul Gem to override a decision made by its creator."

Touma clicked his tongue. He hated how smug Ladylee was, but this wasn't the time to be petty. Ladylee's 'solution' was the only way out of this hopeless situation.

Ladylee chucked the Tesseract towards Arisa who must have woken up while he was talking with Ladylee, "The choice is yours, Meigo Arisa. Will you continue to be as selfish as ever, or will you finally do something good for once in your life?"

Arisa stared at the Tesseract long and hard before letting out a long sigh. An orange glow enveloped her as she slowly faded away.

"Arisa?!" said Touma.

"In order to use the Soul Gem, you have to sacrifice something that which you love. It recognizes my dream to become a musician as a valid sacrifice. I guess this is goodbye then, Touma."

"I'm just a guy you met for only two days. You don't have to go that far for me!"

"Then promise me that you'll protect the dreams of others on my behalf. That's all I ask. You have a very special power, don't waste it like I did."

"I promise."

Even if it costs him his life, he swore that he would carry out the promise he made to Arisa.

"And remember, happiness can be as simple as snapping one's fingers."

The Tesseract morphed into a translucent blue liquid that wrapped around his right arm. His right arm vanished and the Tesseract became his new translucent blue right arm. A bright blue gem appeared on the back of his new hand. IT and the dragons were absorbed into a bright red liquid that solidified into a bright red gem soon after. The bright orange gem appeared where Arisa once stood and flew towards his right arm.

Touma felt a brief surge of power after the two other gems joined the blue gem at the back of his right hand. He was just like what Ladylee said he would be if he had three of those gems containing the essence of the fundamental aspects of the Universe. A god with enough power to bring Misaki back to life.

"Hey Misaki, thanks for praying for my happiness because right now, I'm going to turn that happiness I've received from you into reality."

Touma snapped his fingers.

* * *

Everywhere around Touma was orange, but at least there were enough shades of orange for him to differentiate between the sky above him and the ground below him.

"You're in my realm now, Kamijou Touma," said a female voice that was coming from everywhere.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means you're dead. For now, at least."

A cloaked woman emerged from a black mist.

"You may address me as Mistress Death if you like," said the woman.

He died from the backlash of using three of those gems at once, but luckily Arisa ensured that the Soul Gem would revive him. This was merely the transitional phase before being brought back to life.

"So you managed to grant Ladylee what she wanted?"

"Yes."

"And do you think it's possible to reverse Arisa's sacrifice? You're the one who created the Soul Gem. I'm sure there's a way somehow."

"If I get a majority vote, I will do it."

Touma could now see what God truly was behind the scenes. A council of six personifications who don't always agree with one another and just like any other council on Earth, changes can be slow, decision stalemates aren't unheard of, and compromises has to be made. Which was why the gems exists as a way for the people who live in this Universe to make the changes themselves instead of praying for a change to happen.


	12. Epilogue

Misaki bought a new apartment to help take care of Touma more easily. The frog-faced doctor said that it must be an act of God that Touma managed to survive a lethal dose of gamma radiation that could kill the entire population of Earth three times over. It was Arisa's miracle that saved Touma, not God. God was a stupid council of six who probably can't even decide on whether the position of a new planet should be shifted 1 cm to the left or 1 cm to the right.

Touma limped over to the living room and switched on the TV. He may have survived, but his right arm and leg were so severely damaged to the point where they were nothing but a charred mess.

"Are you feeling better?" said Misaki.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be as good as new after six months."

Misaki burst into tears. Even if Academy City could help Touma make a full recovery in six months, the tears won't stop flowing.

"I'm not worth the effort. Can't you see how filthy I am?"

Touma cupped her cheek with his left hand, "You're not filthy at all. You're beautiful. My beautiful, little ball of sunshine."

She had shredded her body right down to its last atom and scattered them across the Universe. Even though Touma knew just how absolutely fucking filthy her body was, he put that same body back together atom by atom instead of creating a new body with the gems.

"Then let me hug you for as long as I want."

He said she was his happiness. Not an atom less, not an atom more, and not an atom changed. And he was her happiness as well.

Misaki watched an old episode of Magical Girl Kanamin while cuddling on the sofa with Touma. Before meeting Touma, she always wanted to be like ordinary Kanami on TV with loving parents who did not treat Kanami like a slave. Having a boyfriend like Touma who loves her just the way she is, flaws and all, was more than she bargained for.

"By the way, isn't vanilla your favorite ice cream flavor?" said Touma.

"Nope, it has always been strawberry."

"But I'm pretty sure-"

Misaki kissed Touma on the lips. Strawberry was her favorite ice cream flavor now because it happened to be the flavor of the first ice cream he bought for her.

"Trust me, it's strawberry."

After Magicial Girl Kanamin ended, it was time for the evening news about Japan. A bloated corpse was fished out of River Motosuko. DNA testing confirms the corpse to be Hiroshi Goro, a businessman that went from millionaire to bankrupt in less than a day. Police are currently investigating the incident, but they believe no foul play was involved.

Misaki smiled. It may have been three years too late, but God finally answered a small prayer of hers.

* * *

Seria stepped out of the shower and changed into her silk sleepwear. A cup of coffee while reading a book on a recliner sounds like a great idea to spend the rest of the evening.

Her phone rang. It was surprisingly from Maria.

"Did you call to congratulate me on becoming a member of the Board Of Directors?" said Seria.

"It's still not too late to call it quits. Don't end up like Dad. Please, I beg you."

"Everything I do is to keep you and Touma safe."

"I don't care about being safe! I just want a sister!"

Seria hurled her phone towards the bookshelf. Even if it means being alone for the rest of her life, she will continue to fight for more power to keep both of them safe from the Dark Side of Academy City.


	13. Afterwords

When I first wrote this story, I never thought that I would actually succeeded in finishing the story. I would like to thank whwsms for being the most consistent reviewer and awarededall as well. Also, Otaku97 and Rajarshi Sakar for pointing out the flaws in my story. I tried my best to fix the pacing issues in the story and hopefully it isn't as bad now. Lastly, to the rest of the readers who have been following along all this while, thank you for reading till the end. I hope that you enjoyed the final chapter, the epilogue and the story as a whole.

And now about the ending for the story. It ends with Touma and Misaki being an official couple and you might be thinking, where's the scene where they confess their love to each other or something? Actually, what Touma said before snapping his finger in Chapter 11 to bring Misaki back to life is an indirect confession. His happiness is Misaki and he wants Misaki back in his life.

As for Misaki, I'm just glad that I was able to give her a happy ending after putting her through so much shit. I think she earned it when she decided that killing a billion people to protect her secret of prostituting herself in the past was too much. Unlike in the previous chapters, Misaki chose to be selfless instead of being selfish as usual, and yet still selfish in a way because she opted to end her life afterwards.

Many of you might find it weird why I chose to incorporate the Infinity Gems which is a Marvel thing into a To Aru story. I did it because I wanted the story to be a little more grounded. Like I really don't like the idea of whatever that's inside Touma's right hand be a mysterious, nigh omnipotent entity or something. I wanted it to be more properly defined, so I chose the Infinity Gems. The gems are more of a setup for the sequel where Touma has to actually earn his position to become an OP character instead of most other OP Touma story where Touma becomes OP just from the first chapter.

Also, the gems serves as a logical explanation how Touma could bring Misaki back to life. Remember, in the To Aru world, it is very difficult to bring someone back to life. Even the Magic Gods don't technically revive people. They just change the world into a new world where said person never died in the first place. It would be Deus Ex Machina if I were to tell you that the thing inside Touma's right hand can revive people without a single foreshadowing.

The personifications may not be Level 6s, but they fit the description of what Academy City defines as a Level 6 so closely that you're not wrong to call them Level 6s. The personifications may be far above the Magic Gods in terms of raw power, but only Mistress Death has the ability to kill the Magic Gods by virtue of having the power to control life and death. The other personifications are in a state where they can't touch the Magic Gods, but neither can the Magic Gods touch them as well. So they aren't as all-powerful as you think they might be. The gems they forged however is a different story... but that won't be relevant for a long time so I'll just leave it as it is.

Lastly, if you have questions or comments, you may leave them in the review box below of course. For now, I shall take a break before continuing on to a sequel.

See you.


	14. Post-credits

It was a room with no windows, no doors, and no stairs and corridors leading to this room. Aielster Crowley was floating upside down inside a cylindrical machine that has kept him alive for a very, very long time.

If Touma had performed his snap to bring Misaki back to life on Earth, the microscopic changes caused by the backlash would have shattered his carefully constructed plan to rid the world of magic. He thought he understood what Touma's right hand was, but what Ladylee said to Touma about gems forged by personifications forced him to reevaluate what he knew about Touma's right hand.

An unassuming woman in a purple cloak emerged from a black mist.

"Do you wish to die?" said the woman.

"No. Are you Mistress Death by any chance?"

"I am."

Aiwass may be a transcendent being with immense knowledge about magic, but Mistress Death was part of the knowledge herself as a personification of one of the fundamental aspects of the Universe. A god that participated in creating a world that was so easily fooled and could not punish the hypocrites and liars. Although he had mastered magic to the point of being able to kill Magic Gods while retaining his humanity, not even he was above Death.

"Have you come to take me away?"

Mistress Death shot him a glare, like he had just insulted her by asking that question.

"How could I, Aielster Crowley? Not when you've expressed your desire to keep on living. The machines that is keeping you alive, they disgust me. Good day."

A black mist teleported Mistress Death away.

Aielster smirked. Mistress Death had just proven him right when there was nothing she could do to him directly if he didn't want to die. God was indeed not as all-powerful as everyone believed them to be.


End file.
